Paradox
by YGP
Summary: To prevent her father's death, Faith Estheim will do whatever it takes to save him even if that means traveling back through time. Can she save her family before it's too late? (Ignoring the ending of FF13-2)
1. A Family's Pain

**_Author's Notes: _**_Hello everyone! My name is YGP and I'm back with another story! I wanted to say thank you to a few of the reviewers who wrote that they were looking forward to this story. I really appreciate it! _

_With this first chapter, I want to explain a little about this story. At first, this was going to be a short story mainly focusing on action and solving the problem right away like that, but then I changed it and it became a lot longer because I wanted to touch on Hope's and Light's relationship and how it grew, so there will be a lot of moments with them. __It is Hope/ Light centric. __This is a future fic with a few OCs, mainly the characters you will meet in the first chapter and get to know them through out. This story does contain lemons which I will try to point out just in case some people wanted to skip over them. The chapters will be longer than I usually write. _

_Overall this was a story I really love writing and reading a lot. I hope that you will like it as well. Now I introduce to you "Paradox"._

* * *

_Chapter 1: A Family's Pain:_

Through the halls of the Academy, a soldier headed toward an office intending to speak to the one person she had to see with something she carried heavily on her mind. A part of her straight pink hair flowed down to the middle of her chest and the other part down to the middle of her back. Her bangs were off to the right side of her face. She wore a brown, short sleeved coat that extended to a few inches above the floor and split open in the middle in the front. She wore a skirt inches above her knees with knee high boots and a rank on her shoulder of sergeant. She headed to her destination with anxiousness in her feet, but also with confidence. She hoped that things would work out as she pictured them in her mind.

Once she reached the office, there stood a young man dressed in an Academy uniform. He wore round glasses with brown eyes and brown slick back hair that stopped at the beginning of his neck. He lifted his eyes once he noticed the young woman heading toward him. The scientist reacted with a bit of surprise, but knew that her arrival was expected. "Ah! Welcome sergeant!" He bowed in front of her.

The woman's eyes traveled to the closed door after she had come to a stop in front of him. "Is the Director in?"

The scientist's lips curved up into a smile. "Yes ma'am! As the Director's assistant, he informed me that you would be arriving to meet with him. He is in alone right now so feel free to walk in whenever you wish."

The soldier blinked a little nervous at how cheerful the assistant was being. She nodded. "Um…? Thanks..." She headed inside and closed the door behind her.

Inside of the office, it was a little dark and the only light that was coming in was shining through the huge glass window. The soldier stopped in front of the Director's desk. His chair was turned away from his desk and toward the window so she was unable to see his face. At first, her words became caught inside of her throat, but she knew that she had to ask. "Director?"

In front of him, there was a transparent screen that he was working on. "Hey! Someone told me you wanted to see me. What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Her eyes traveled down to the metal surface of his desk. "If we're being formal about it, the Commander sent me up here to ask you something. It's about the Special Forces." Her eyes lifted up to his chair with a determined stare. "I want in."

A smile curved at the lips of the Director. He knew the reason why she was requesting to join in. "And the Commander, she sent you to ask me? Do you mind if I ask why?"

The soldier gave a slight, casual shrug. "Pretty much she said that it was up to you as to whether or not I could join."

He tilted his head on top of his fist, his smile never leaving. "I see."

Things turned silent between them. Soon her face became written with confusion. "So…? Is that a… yes…?"

"Just so you know she did give me a record of your progress as far as your training." A sigh left his lips. "I guess she left this decision to me."

Anxiously she leaned forward. So far she thought the meeting was going well. "So does that mean yes?"

The Director turned around in his chair to face the soldier. There was a cheerful smile on his face. "No."

As soon as she heard his answer, her mouth dropped open in surprise. It wasn't long before a frown appeared. She didn't understand why his answer was no. "But why? This is an important mission! Your life is at stake!"

The smile he had soon disappeared. The Director was fully aware of the risks that were ahead of him, but at the same time, there was no way he could put her life at stake too. "I'm sorry, but my answer is still no. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

As the two of them were talking, another figure dressed in military clothing was walking right outside of the office. The Director's assistant lifted his head from what he was working on at his desk surprised. He didn't expect to see her. "Commander?"

"Are they in there now?" she asked.

Nervously the assistant nodded a few times. "Yes ma'am."

After hearing so, she quietly stepped inside. No one seemed to notice her come in. She leaned against the wall and watched as the scene continued. She was interested in the conversation they were having. The sergeant continued. There was a bit of a pleading look to her eyes. "Come on! I can help! I know I can! Just give me a chance!"

The Director had his chair turned somewhat away from the solider. There was a solemn look on his face as his eyes stared toward the ground. He had his hands together in front of him as his elbows were pressed into his armrests. "I'm sorry, but my answer is still no." There would be no way he would change his mind about this. Not with what was at risk. He lifted his eyes to the anxious woman as he turned his chair more toward her. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the figure in the back of the room. At first he was surprised that she sneaked in without either of them noticing. A smile appeared on his lips as his eyes met with the woman's. In return, the woman gave a faint smile. In silence, the two greeted each other without letting the soldier know that she was there.

The sergeant pressed her lips tightly together. She wasn't sure how she could convince the Director to let her join. It was then that she decided to resort to another tactic. She gave the sweetest look she could. "I know I can do this and you know I can too." The Director's eyes lifted to meet hers. Her lips curved up into the best smile she could. "Please daddy?"

Instantly the Director's eyes traveled over to the woman on the other side of the room. Both of their smiles increased. Right away they already knew what the other was thinking. In response the Director shook his head with his eyes closed. "The answer is still no."

She placed her hands on the desk as she pleaded with him. "But daddy?!"

Before she could finish stating her reasons, she heard a voice in the background. "You're getting predicable Faith."

Surprised, Faith turned around to the familiar voice. "Mom?!"

The Commander stepped over beside her. Her eyes traveled over to the Director sitting in his chair. He closed his eyes as he gave a smile admitting defeat. "Fine! You win Light. I thought training under you would take that part out of her, but you were right…"

Hearing him say that she was right out loud brought a proud smile to Lightning's face. She leaned her hands behind her and on the edge of his desk. "I thought that you would have learned by now Hope. I'm always right."

Faith crossed her arms as she gave a suspicious look. Her green eyes pierced at her parents. "What are you guys talking about? Right about what?"

Lightning leaned off of the desk and looked at her. "The fact that if your father told you no, you would resort to other ways of trying to convince him. You didn't ask him professionally like I told you a soldier should ask. Instead, you asked him like a daughter not a soldier."

Faith turned her eyes aside as she pouted. "You knew dad would say no anyway didn't you? That would have probably been your answer too."

"Well I knew if I said no, then you would try to go over my head if you wanted to and ask your father. I figured you might as well ask him anyway. If he thought you were ready, then maybe I wouldn't argue too much against him," Lightning answered.

A serious look came on Hope's expression. "But the fact is Faith this is a dangerous mission. Your mother does not think you're ready and I'm not putting you in harm's way."

Faith gave a determined, but somewhat pleading look. "But dad I can do this. I just want to make sure that you get through this okay."

Hope gave a small smile of comfort hoping to ease her worries. "I'm telling you. You really don't have to worry about me. I have your mother here helping me."

Faith frowned. "Then how come you told mom yes?"

Lightning stepped over beside him to face Faith. Hope leaned his chin on the back of his hands. "Because she wouldn't take no for an answer."

Faith continued to pout a little. "Then I'm not taking no for an answer either." In response Hope and Lightning closed their eyes and sighed at the stubbornness of their daughter.

"Well hello there family!" Hope and Lightning lifted their heads as Faith turned around curious. In the door way, they saw a young man dressed in an Academy uniform. He had blue green eyes with silver hair a little darker than Hope's. He gave a big grin. "Mom, dad I see that Faith is giving you trouble again."

Faith glared at her younger brother. Her eyes narrowed. "Go away dork," she spoke lowly.

The man stepped over in front of Hope's desk with a file in hand. "So what's going on? What is Faith asking for now?"

Faith stepped over beside him. "It's none of your business."

He smiled. "Awe! You can tell me."

Faith crossed her arms. "If you have to be so nosy, I was just asking to be on the Special Forces and mom and dad were just telling me that they would think about it."

"I believe that we told you no," Hope clarified.

Faith let out a moan as her arms dropped heavily at her side. Her brother smirked at her. "I see." He leaned in more toward her. "This is how you really get stuff done," he said between him and her. He stepped over in front of their parents and placed the file in his hand on Hope's desk.

Curiously Hope lifted his eyes to him. "What's this H.J.?"

H.J. put aside his competition against Faith for their father's approval for what they each wanted and composed himself professionally. Still, in the back of his mind, he wanted to show off a little in front of his sister. "I have a request of you. With your permission of course, I would like to take my research out of the Academy and on to the site of the Bresha Ruins. I think that we could make more discoveries there. It's all covered in my report."

Hope scanned over the report that H.J. had placed on his desk. "It looks good. You have my permission to start whenever you feel is best for you and your team to go. Just let me know when."

"Yes. Thank you Director." He looked back and flashed a smile at Faith who frowned in return.

She turned her eyes back to their parents. "How come H.J. gets to do what he wants, but I can't join the squad to protect you?"

"The difference is that he is prepared and we feel that you are not," Hope answered.

Faith looked upset. "But-?"

Lightning stepped in before she could complain any further. "No more discussing about it. Until we see you as ready, then we'll allow you to be on the team," she told Faith sternly.

Faith's very disappointed look was still on her face, but she remained quiet. Her eyes drifted toward Hope's desk. "Yes ma'am," she whispered.

H.J. looked over at his older sister. He could tell that she was disappointed. He turned his eyes over to his parents. This was not the time to push anything further. "See you guys later," he spoke softly. Both he and Faith turned and left from the office.

Once they did, Hope let out a sigh as he closed his eyes. He leaned his head back in his chair. "Did I really do the right thing? She seemed pretty upset."

Then, he felt a hand press against his shoulder. When he lifted his eyes, he saw Lightning standing beside him with a sincere look. "You did what you felt was right and I believe the same thing too."

He stood up and walked around his desk. She could tell that he was still uneasy. She felt uneasy as well, but more about the situation that they both had to deal with now. She followed him around to the front of his desk and leaned back against it as he did. He crossed his arms as he stared toward the ground. "I just don't want her to get hurt." He gave Lightning a troubled smile. "Maybe in time we'll find that there's nothing to worry about."

Once Hope searched Lightning's face, he saw that she wasn't smiling at all. Her expression was humorless as there was some concern behind it. "I really hope that you are taking this seriously."

Hope breathed out as he closed his eyes. "There might not be-."

Immediately she started to get infuriated. "Don't think that and don't let your guard down for a second. Last time, you were lucky. We know that it wasn't some accident. Someone is after you."

"I know that, but I wish you guys wouldn't worry about me. I'll be fine. I promise." Lightning wished she could believe that. She wished that they could find whoever was after him, but the person or people behind the attack left no clue for them to start with. Maybe if they could find something, then they wouldn't have to worry as much. For now, all they were doing was sitting and waiting which gave whoever was targeting him an advantage. "There is one thing that makes me not worry so much about this."

Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked over at him after he spoke. "What's that?"

Hope turned his head to her with a genuine stare. "You."

Lightning was a little surprised by his words, but her expression didn't change. "Why do you say that?"

"I know what it's like when you're looking out for me. If anything, I trust you with my life. Also I know that if anything were to happen to me that you would be there for Faith and H.J. and-"

Her face became tense. "Don't talk like that."

He could tell that she didn't want to hear the worst possible scenario, but it was still a possibility. Concern began to show more through his expression. "Sometimes I wished that you weren't involved in this as well."

Through her appearance and eyes, she showed that she was determined to see him come out of this alive. "I told you that I would protect you. I'm not going back on that."

A faint smile appeared upon his lips despite his worry. "Sometimes it's hard to believe how things worked out over the years. I didn't really expect any of this like the whole having a family thing. Losing my mother at fourteen and then my father at twenty-four, I was the last of my family left. Now if only they could see Faith and the rest now."

"You're forgetting that I was the last of my family as well," she reminded him.

A smile curved at his lips. "But you still had Serah and I didn't have any other siblings." He nudged her elbow with his own. The more he got on the subject, the more he began to cheer up and he could see that she was starting to feel at ease as well. "Plus now you have all those nieces and nephews and your favorite brother in law Snow."

Lightning sighed as she closed her eyes. "Don't remind me…"

Hope laughed a little. His eyes lifted toward the ceiling as he kept his smile on. "Twenty years. That's a long time."

"Twenty-two if you count the two years before we permanently stayed together after Faith was born."

His eyes returned to her as he smiled gently. "I do count that."

Lightning placed her hand on her hip. "I don't know how you caught me or got me to stay so long."

A smirk appeared on his lips. He grabbed onto her hand and pulled her toward him. "Maybe because some part of you loves me."

"I don't know about that." Behind her serious tone, there was a joking one.

Hope pulled her closer toward him, letting his lips meet with hers. Gladly she indulged and kissed him back. Her gloved fingers reached up to his silver hair. His hand wrapped around her waist. He leaned forward as she leaned back. When she felt that she was doing so, she placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him away a little. "Oh no."

He kept the grin on his face as he looked curious. "What?"

Lightning crossed her arms against her chest as she frowned. "Several reasons why this is not happening."

"Why?" he asked.

"It's the middle of the day and you're still at work. So am I," she pointed out.

"And?"

Lightning's eyes traveled over toward the door before she returned them to him. "Your assistant is right outside."

"And?"

"And remember what I said before. It's just another kid waiting to happen. If it's in our home then its okay, but anywhere outside of that usually results in more people with little feet running around our house."

"What? Oh come on! That can't be true!"

She didn't believe that he could forget that easily. "Think really hard."

His eyes lifted up as he was thinking. "Let's see Faith was… well…can't count that."

"You should remember that one." Even she could remember what happened clearly and everything they've gone through.

Hope looked at her surprised. "H.J. was…"

"No," Lightning stopped him before he could finish.

His eyes widened a little more in surprise and disbelief. "Oh come on! The youngest one-"

"It doesn't count. It was still here too."

Hope sighed giving up since they only had three. "Fine. I get it. You're coming home tonight right?"

Lightning stepped in front of him and placed a kiss on his lips. "Yes. Are you?"

His lips curved upwards into a smile. "Yes. It'll be the first time in a while that we'll have everyone together."

"I better go soon. Are you sure that you don't need me to stay up here?" she asked concerned.

"Seriously I'll be fine. You have soldiers up here if I need them." Lightning's eyes lowered toward the ground. She felt unsure about leaving him alone. Then she felt fingers lightly push her chin upwards. He gave a gentle smile. "I'll be fine."

Her eyes searched his. Very little fear appeared in his eyes, but it was enough to catch a glimpse of it. "Right…" Afterwards she turned and walked out of his office.

Once she left, the happiness and strong front that he had put on for her had faded. Truly he showed his fear while he was alone. A sigh left from his lips. From one of the drawers in his desk, he pulled out a piece of paper. His eyes scanned over the words that were written. It was important that he had everything right and taken care of if something were to happen to him. Very few people knew of the document. Not even his family knew of it. Once again, his eyes read over his will and testament.

* * *

As they traveled alone in the hallway, H.J.'s eyes looked over to see the still disheartened look of his sister. Her eyes were staring toward the ground. "Oh come on! You can't still be upset over what happened."

"Just stay out of it," she replied coldly.

"I just don't get it. You shouldn't be upset. You'll get in next time," he tried to encourage her.

Slightly she shook her head. "That's not the point. Dad's in trouble now. I want to be there to help. I know I can." Her eyes lowered more. A little more of her hurt began to show. "They just…don't believe in me."

Her words began to alarm H.J. He could understand her worry, but he could also understand the reasons of their parents. "That's not true. Did you ever get it through that thick head of yours that maybe they didn't want you involved because they didn't want you to get hurt or something."

Faith frowned as she become upset. "I am perfectly capable of handling myself, but mom doesn't think I'm ready for anything and dad….he still treats me like a kid." She sighed, but then perked up. Maybe there was still a chance. "All I have to do is convince daddy and mom will have to listen."

H.J. rolled his eyes and let them drift away from her. "Good luck with that. Sure you're not getting ahead of yourself? The thought of joining a special squad makes you special?"

Faith looked over at him. "Well I'm not going to lie that it sounds nice. Still what do you have to complain about? You're Director of your team."

"Well that's not exactly my title," he began to explain.

Faith looked confused. "So what?"

"You become Director when you're the leader of the Alpha team. Dad is the leader of that." Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something which made him stop explaining. Faith followed his eyes and then sighed as she slouched over a little. A sly smirk came on his face. "Speaking of nice…" Across the way in the hall, a girl was grinning toward him dressed in one of the Academy's short dress uniform. Her brown hair was tied back in a ponytail swaying back and forth. She waved toward him. H.J. cleared his throat and headed toward the girl. "Excuse me! I would like to talk about an experiment I would like to conduct starting you and me."

Faith rolled her eyes and started walking away. "How the dork ended up being such a pervert no knows. Dad doesn't act like one."

Later that night, everyone was sitting around at a square table in the kitchen except for two people that were missing. Faith turned her head to her father sitting next to her. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail as some of her hair outside of it hung down at her sides. She stood up with her hands pressed against the table. "Come on dad! I know I can do this!"

Hope continued eating as he remained calm. "Faith I told you several times at the Academy my answer is still no and it's not going to change otherwise."

Faith groaned as she sat back in her chair disappointed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a piece of food being flicked onto her food. When her eyes traveled over, she saw her younger brother with a grin on his face. "Maybe you should send Faith to a military training camp hopefully on the other side of Pulse."

Faith glared at H.J. "You stay out of this and mind your own business!"

H.J. gave a slight smirk. "Oh come on! I think that would be the best move for all of us. I know it would be for me; to send you somewhere far away."

Faith crossed her arms as she continued glaring at her brother. "Shut it or I'll put you in a sack and send you to your real family." More she was getting annoyed with him. "And stop flicking food on my plate!"

Nearby they heard a sigh. When everyone looked over, they saw Lightning walking down the stairs. In her arms was a little girl with long silver hair that flowed over both of her shoulders. Her hair at the top was straight along with her bangs and then began to curve at her shoulders like Lightning's did. "Honestly you two act like five year olds and this five year old acts more mature than you do."

"Yeah!" The girl leaned forward and stuck her tongue out.

Lightning looked at her serious. "Remember…"

The girl grinned at her. "Oh right!" Right away the girl's expression turned serious.

Hope shook his head as he grinned. He wanted to laugh at how similar her face and expression seemed to her mother's. Without him looking, he suddenly noticed a weight on his legs. When he opened his eyes, he saw that somehow the girl got onto his lap at the table. When he looked back, he saw Lightning walking pass him toward the kitchen counter near the food. Silently he knew what her actions meant and let the girl proceed to eat off of his plate. He moved in to help her eat.

A few seconds later, they heard the ringing of a phone. Faith looked surprised and reached into her pocket. "Hello?" Once she heard the voice, a smile instantly came to her face. "Hi!" she replied smoothly.

H.J. smiled as he shook his head slowly. "I know that look."

Faith stood up from her chair as she began to walk away. "I was wondering when you would call. I-."

Suddenly she felt the phone slip out of her hand. She blinked surprised and looked over to see what took it away. "Yes. Who is this?"

Faith's eyes widened in surprised and a little worried. "Dad!"

"Well I'm her father… Ah! I see..." Hope's eyes traveled over to Faith serious. "The two of you were supposed to meet for a date. Then you wouldn't mind stopping by to meet with me as well?"

"Dad!" Faith whispered loudly as she was worried that he would scare the guy off.

Lightning leaned against the counter as she placed the tips of her fingers to her forehead and closed her eyes. She let out a sigh. "Here we go again," she whispered lowly to herself.

Quickly Faith took the phone from his ear. When she listened, there was no sound on the other line. She hung up. "Dad! Did you really have to do that?! I'm twenty-one! You told me that I could date when I was eighteen!"

"I'm not changing that. I just want to meet whoever you're seeing first. I think that's fair," Hope replied.

Faith sighed in frustration. "You still treat me like a child and you still don't think that I'm good enough to join a squad to protect you!"

Lightning walked over to them. "Let's just settle this right now." She was tired of the constant bickering and aggravation from Faith and needed some way to settle the argument with her for good. She sat down at the table. "How about this? If you can win against me, then no matter what we both think, we'll let you join."

Hope looked uneasy about her idea. "I don't know…"

Faith grew determined and quiet. Everyone in the room could see that she was getting serious. If there was a way to convince them otherwise from their decision then she would try it. "What do you mean win?"

Lightning turned to her just as unrelenting as Faith was at that moment. She got directly to the point. "If you catch me and I have no way to get out of your attack, then I'll surrender and let you be in."

Faith wasn't sure about the idea. When her mother issued this kind of challenge a few times, she was never able to beat her. She was still quick on her feet just as she was over twenty years ago, but still she had to try. Faith gave her a determined look. "Fine. Then you're on."

Lightning turned back to the table and grabbed onto her cup that was nearby with liquid inside. "And no sneaking up on me while I'm sleeping. I won't let you get away with that this time."

H.J. burst out into laugher. "You beat mom? Ha! Even I can beat you and I'm not even in the military."

Faith crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes at him. "No you can't."

H.J. held out his arms at his sides. "Hey! You forget that mom trained me too. I did get you once."

"Yeah! One time!" Faith growled. Her hands tensed at her sides as her hand glowed.

H.J. smirked after he realized what Faith was doing. His hand began to glow as well. "Bring it on. You know my magic is stronger than yours."

Lightning was irritated with the two at that moment, but remained as calm as possible with her eyes closed. The cup she lifted up to her lips had stopped inches away. "If any of you use magic in this house, I promise that I will kill you both."

Faith breathed out and relaxed. She put her hand back down. H.J. put his hand down as he continued smirking. Feeling overwhelmed, Faith began heading upstairs. Lightning looked over. "Where are you going?"

Faith glanced back. In that second, Lightning and Hope could see the hurt in her eyes. "I'm not really hungry." Soon she disappeared out of sight.

Hope and Lightning looked at each other. They were starting to get concerned about Faith more than they already were. "Don't worry." Their attention turned to H.J. that spoke and who was trying to comfort them. "She'll be fine."

Later that night, Faith went back downstairs. In the living room, she noticed that her mother was lying on the couch with her arm covering her eyes. It seemed that she was sleeping or at least resting. She hadn't forgotten about the deal that she and Lightning made. Quietly she tried to sneak up behind her. When she tried to strike, her mother caught her hand. The move surprised Faith. Lightning removed her arm from over her eyes and looked up at her. "Really Faith? That's the best that you can do?" Faith's eyes lowered toward the ground. Her mother sat up and turned around to her. "You really want to join that bad?"

Faith continued staring down sad. "Why can't I?"

Lightning looked serious. "You're making yourself too open which would make you an easy target and I can't have any liabilities."

"Is that all you see me as?" Faith asked softly.

Lightning wasn't sure what she could say. Clearly she could hear the hurt in her voice. She didn't want Faith to think of herself in that way nor believe that she saw her in that way. She believed that Faith didn't understand the extent of the danger that came with what she wanted. "Faith…"

"You don't have to say anything. I already know." Afterwards she turned and walked away. In her room she plopped down on her bed and closed her eyes saddened.

* * *

The next day, some of the soldiers that were a part of the military were training in one of the rooms in the Academy. Quietly the doors to the room opened. Faith peeked inside and saw the soldiers in training. When she searched around more, she didn't spot the one person she thought she might see. She breathed out a sigh of relief. She closed the door behind her and stepped inside.

"You're late." Once she heard the familiar voice, Faith's body instantly stiffened as dread ran through her. When she looked back, she saw the one stern face she was hoping not to see: Lightning's. Lightning stood with her arms crossed. She was not happy. "What excuse do you want to give me this time?"

Faith turned to her with a deadpanned stare. The fear subsided from her. "I made it didn't I?"

"You really need to watch what you say to me." Lightning could hear the hint that she was getting out of line.

Faith frowned. "Why are you being so hard on me? There are other soldiers here too. Besides why are you down here? Aren't you usually in your office?"

"Not always. When I left this morning, I didn't see you leave or any indication that you had left. I wanted to see for myself if you actually made it. Regardless of whether I was here or not, it would have gotten reported back to me that you were late. I don't treat you any differently than I do the other soldiers. Not unless that's how you want me to treat you. We'll just have everything go your way." Faith began to get irate. Lightning turned around, getting ready to leave. She looked back toward Faith. "I'm not having you here like some spoiled little princess." She started walking away. "You know what the punishment is for being late. I suggest you do it." Faith's fist baled tightly at her side. When Lightning glanced back, she saw that Faith was still standing in the same spot. She knew that look in her eye. "If you don't do it now, then I'll make it a lot worse."

Faith headed in her direction. Her eyes lowered discouraged. "Why does it matter? You only see me as a liability."

Before Faith could leave the room, Lightning grabbed her shoulder. "You really want to do this? I don't see you as a liability. If you're going to be in my military, then I see you as someone who needs to grow up because if you don't, you will get killed."

Faith shifted her shoulder out of her mother's reach. "This isn't just your military. Daddy has a say in it too. I know that I'm better than you say I am. Are you just keeping me down because you don't want anyone to think that you're going easy on me?"

"You got promoted didn't you?"

"Yes, but I've been this rank for a while now."

Lightning was beginning to get irate with her. "You really have no humility do you?"

"Tell me how long did it take you to be Commander? During the years we were growing up, you had to take time out of the military so that you could take care of us. Did you really have the experience like you said?"

"Of course I did. You-."

Out of frustration, Faith continued to push her. "Really? Was it? Or was it because daddy couldn't say no to you?"

In a spark of anger, Lightning raised her hand and slapped her across the face. She couldn't believe what Faith had said to her. "Don't you ever disrespect me like that again! Do you understand me?!"

Faith breathed out as her eyes widened in shock. Her hand rose to her cheek covering over the red spot that was left behind. The sting she felt in her cheek hurt. Lightning could see her eyes begin to water. Instantly she regretted what she had done. She didn't mean to hurt her, but her body reacted out of her own frustrations. She placed her hand over Faith's that was on her cheek. "Faith…I'm-." Faith could no longer stand to be there. She turned around and took off. Lightning reached out to her, but her feet wouldn't move. Her eyes lowered to the ground. As she ran, Faith wiped away the tears from her eyes. She ran out of the Academy.

* * *

"I might have…messed up today." As Lightning sat at her desk, her fingers became locked in the pink strands of her hair. She leaned her head against her hand as the phone was pressed against her ear. She still felt bad over what she had done.

"No you didn't. Both you and Faith are under a lot of stress especially dealing with this whole situation with me." Hope leaned back in his office chair. "I'll admit what she said to you wasn't right, but knowing her she did it out of anger."

Lightning's eyes drifted to side with remorse. "I probably should have gone after her."

"No. Just let her go for now. Both of you just need some time to relax from this. You both don't need to get angry with each other again." A smile came on his lips. "And I don't need you two destroying the Academy especially with gunblades involved."

She closed her eyes as a small smirk appeared at his joke. "We're not that bad."

"Believe it or not, you two can have the same temper sometimes," he pointed out.

Lightning placed her hand on her forehead a little frustrated. She kept her eyes closed. "Well she's been having a lot more temper tantrums like a child."

"She'll get over it. Just don't worry about it. How come you didn't come to my office to talk about this?"

She tapped her fingers lightly against her desk. "Because I knew once we settled this, you wouldn't want me to leave. Probably even try to start flirting with me."

"It would have only been for a few minutes."

"A few minutes turns into a few hours with you."

"Fine. I will let you go then. If you want, I'll call Faith and see where she is." Hope knew doing so would put her mind at ease and his as well.

"That's fine." Lightning figured that would be the best idea for now. Faith was probably still furious with her.

"All right. I love you."

"I know," she replied.

"What? That's all I get? Come on. You can say it too..." Playfully Hope tried to push her along.

"Goodbye Hope."

"It's only three words then I'll leave you alone."

Lightning breathed out playfully. "Fine… I-."

Suddenly she heard a loud sound on the other line. "Hope?" There was no answer. When he didn't reply, she started to get worried. She stood up from her desk. "Hope! Answer me!" For a few seconds, things were quiet, but then she heard it again. A sound that she had heard many times. The sound of a gunshot. Her eyes narrowed. She called for him once more, but there was no answer. Quickly she dropped her phone on the desk and rushed off. She headed to the nearest elevator that could take her to the floor that he was on. Several times she pressed the button for his floor until the elevator doors closed. While she waited, she pressed her back against the wall. She pressed her fingers to her forehead as she closed her eyes. Her mind was thinking the worse had happened. The person that was after him probably got their opening and took advantage of it. She didn't understand it. With the soldiers she placed on the floor that should have been able to stop the attack.

Soon Lightning felt the elevator stop. Focused, she took her gunblade from her carrier. Once the doors opened, she peeked around the corner, but saw that no one was there. She ran further down the hall toward his office. Once she got nearby, she was shocked at the sight that she saw next. The bodies of the soldiers that she sent to protect him were lying on the floor covered in their own blood. She didn't understand what could have caused it. When she stepped closer, she heard the sound of someone struggling to breathe. Hastily she went over to the badly injured soldier and kneeled down. "Hang on. Help is on the way."

"Commander…I'm sorry…" the solider was barely able to speak with the pain he was in.

"What happened here? Did you see who attacked?" Lightning asked quickly.

"It happened so fast…" The soldier sighed in pain.

Lightning figured it was better not to get anymore information out of him. She eased her anxious expression to that of comfort. "Just rest. I'll be back soon." Her eyes traveled over to the office door. She stepped over the bodies of the dead soldiers in her path. Once she reached the door, she could hear a voice from inside. "I've been waiting a long time to do this Director."

Lightning rushed in. She assumed from what the voice said that maybe there was a chance that Hope was alive and wasn't harmed yet. At least she hoped so. "Stop!"

The mysterious assassin looked back surprised to see that Lightning had her gunblade pointed. Quickly the assassin ran off from her, heading toward the window. Lightning shot toward her. The assassin jumped out of the window. Their eye flinched in pain. One of the shots had hit pieced her leg. She figured now was the best time to leave. What she set out to complete was done for now.

Lightning rushed over to the window. She saw no trace of the assassin. What surprised her most was that even though she didn't get a good look at the assassin's face, she could tell that it was a woman. She rushed over to Hope who was still sitting in his chair. He had his eyes closed tight as his hand was pressing against one of the places he was wounded on his stomach. Blood leaked from his lips. She checked over him. He had a few places he was wounded on his chest and stomach and struggling to breathe and subdue the pain. Lightning turned his head gently toward her. "Hope. Hope! Stay with me okay."

He barely opened his eyes. "Light…"

More she became worried. "Hold on! I'm going to get help!"

Hope leaned back in his chair as he lifted his head. He felt a sharp pain go through him. He closed his eyes tight. He could barely cry out. The pain was getting to be too much and felt that he was going to black out.

Outside in the hall, H.J. was heading to Hope's office. Once he looked toward the ground, his expression changed to shock as he stopped. Seeing the blood against the floor and walls and the bodies of soldiers covering the ground, he began to get frightened. Seeing the line of bodies, his mind instantly raced. He moved as fast as he could to get to Hope's office. The door was still open. Once he saw the sight inside, his eyes widened more scared. Ahead he saw his mother attempting to keep his father alive. "…mom…?"

Swiftly she turned her head. It was almost a relief to see that he was there, but she wished that he didn't have to see the sight he just walked in on. "H.J. call for help!"

H.J. froze. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of his father close to death. Lightning looked over wondering what was taking him so long. Her face tensed. "Hope! Hope!" H.J. responded a little. His body shook. "Don't do this to me now! Call for help or he will die!"

Finally H.J. reacted and shaking, took out his phone. He pressed his phone to his ear after he dialed the numbers quickly. "Yes! We need help here!"

While H.J. was calling for help, Lightning struggled to keep Hope with her as she was worried. "Come on! Don't do this to me now! You can't leave. Not yet."

* * *

_That's it for the first chapter! Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think and I'll be back to update!_


	2. A Race For Time

_**Author's Notes:** Thank you to everyone for reading, posting reviews, and adding this to your favorites and alerts! It was very encouraging! I will try to make this the best story I can! I hope that you will like the next chapter! _

* * *

_Chapter 2: A Race For Time:_

Hours later, H.J. walked through the hallway of a hospital in Academia. When he called earlier from Hope's office, it took a few minutes for the medics to come and picked up his father. After that, he had been taken to surgery and hadn't heard a word on him since. He headed into the waiting room where he spotted his mother standing near one of the windows staring out of it. Concerned for her as well, he walked in behind her. His eyes drifted toward the ground. "I'm sorry I didn't react fast enough. I just…froze seeing him like that."

Lightning looked back at him with her arms crossed. "It wasn't your fault. You did a good thing today. You possibly saved two lives."

He stepped in beside her. "Any word yet?"

"No," she answered.

H.J. breathed out concerned. He didn't want to think the worst, but it kept coming up in his head. "Do you think that he'll make it?"

Lightning returned her eyes to the window. "He's a fighter. He'll at least try." A little confusion came to her as she thought back. "The thing about the person who tried to kill him is… they didn't intend to do it right away. They wanted him to suffer first… maybe."

H.J. lifted his eyes to his mother still concerned. "Did dad have a lot of enemies?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't understand it. Who would be that angry with him?"

H.J.'s eyes drifted down toward the ground. As she was thinking about the possible motive, he spoke again. "How are you doing mom?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him a little surprised that he was asking. "I'm fine. Why?"

"This has to be a hard thing for you to go through too," he replied.

Lightning didn't want him to worry about her. She had to be strong for everyone's sake. "It's just a matter of waiting it out."

H.J. turned silent. He wondered how she was truly feeling. It was easy to tell when she was angry, but sometimes hard to tell when it came to other emotions. "Mom?"

Her eyes traveled over to him. "Yeah?"

H.J. walked over and embraced her. She was surprised by his sudden gesture. He leaned his head against her shoulder. They were just about the same height. "I'm sorry that this happened," he whispered. He was a little nervous about saying the next part on his mind, but he wanted her to know that he was there to help. "If you need someone to…I don't know maybe…lean on…Then…I'm…sort of…here…"

Lightning blinked surprised, but then a faint smile curved at her lips. She leaned her head against his head as she closed her eyes. Her arms wrapped around him. "You really are your father's son."

H.J. stepped back from her as he grinned. "What does that mean? You named me after him didn't you?"

She still kept her faint smile. "That wasn't the reason we named you after him, but you two act the same sometimes."

H.J. continued grinning until they heard a voice. "Mrs. Estheim?"

Lightning looked over to see the doctor approaching. "Doctor? Is everything all right?"

"We've just taken him out of surgery and right now he's in recovery. He's stable. He lost a lot of blood coming in," the doctor explained.

H.J. looked worried. "Does he need a transfusion?"

The doctor's eyes traveled between H.J. and Lightning. "No. We've already taken care of that. Parts of his body took severe injuries from the shots. He isn't able to breathe on his own so for now we're using a machine to help him do so."

Lightning's eyes traveled along the ground. That wasn't the good news that she was hoping to hear. She was hoping to hear that he would bounce back from this quickly, but was thankful that he was still alive. She lifted her eyes to the doctor. "Can we go see him?"

"You can sit with him, but I must let you know ahead of time that he is not awake."

A part of her wished that he was awake, but knew he needed the rest so that he could recover. "I see."

"Please. Just a few minutes and the nurses will be able to tell you which room he will be staying in. Thank you for your patience." Afterwards the doctor turned and headed out of the waiting room.

H.J.'s eyes traveled toward the ground. "I guess that's good. At least he's still alive." When he looked over, he noticed that Lightning was still staring toward the floor. He became curious. "Mom?"

"This should have never happened." Lightning turned and sat down in one of the chairs. More of her distress started to show. As H.J. watched her, he started to worry more about how she was handling the situation.

* * *

Later, the two of them were sitting at Hope's bedside in chairs. His mouth was covered with a breathing mask. Bandages were wrapped around the upper part of his body on his chest and stomach. The rest of his body was covered with a white blanket. "The doctors said they don't know when he'll wake up," H.J. pointed out.

Lightning leaned forward with her elbows pressing into her legs. "It's going to take a long time for him to recover from this." She breathed out as she closed her eyes. "I should have been there sooner." H.J.'s eyes traveled over to her as she spoke. "If I just came up there to talk to him, then maybe I could've prevented this."

"Mom you can't seriously be blaming yourself for what happened. The person who was after him did this to him."

Lightning's eyes lowered toward the ground dispirited. "It was my job to protect him. He trusted me."

H.J. sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "Sometimes I think that you are too hard on yourself. Yes it's horrible what happened to dad, but honestly…" He leaned his head on his hands that were pressed together. His eyes lowered. What he was thinking, he didn't want to say out loud for fear of his mother being furious with him, but at the same time he didn't want her to feel guilt. "I rather things turn out this way then you already being up there and facing against whoever did this."

Lightning reacted stunned. "Hope-?"

"Listen. I know that you can handle yourself. You've proven that time and time again, but I saw what that person did to all of those soldiers. I would be afraid that you would have ended up like that as well to the point that both you and dad would have been dead. We both still have no idea what we're up against. The way I see it, you saved dad in time and from suffering any worse than he did. While I wish that this never happened to him, I'm just glad to see that he's alive." Lightning stared at him stunned for a few more seconds before she turned her head and closed her eyes. She let out a sigh. "We'll figure out whoever did this to him," he said with confidence.

"You are staying out of this." When H.J. looked over, there was a stern expression on Lightning's face. "Your father is in the hospital. I don't need another ending up here or worse." H.J. wanted to reply and say that he could help her, but knew that she would just argue against it more. His eyes stared toward the ground. She calmed down a little and returned her attention to Hope. "Did the doctor say if they gave him something to help with the pain?"

"Yes," H.J. replied.

Lightning was glad to hear that. "Good. He was in a lot of pain before he came in."

H.J. stood up. "I'll be right back."

Lightning's eyes followed as he left the room. Afterwards her eyes traveled over to Hope lying in bed. She watched as his chest rose up and down and the breaths disappear and reappear in his mask. Her expression softened. "I'm sorry." Her eyes lowered. "One minute I hear your voice telling me that things would be all right and then…" Finally she closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "If whoever was after you knew you were alive…" She lifted her eyes as she looked determined. "Then they probably won't hesitate to come after you again. I doubt doing this was just to scare you. This time, I'll make sure they won't have the chance. I'll keep my promise to protect you." She stood up from her chair. She reached over and grabbed his hand lying at his side. "You better make it through this." For a few seconds, she gazed at his sleeping face. Her face softened becoming more vulnerable. "I know I give you a hard time sometimes, but you already know that I care. Maybe sometimes I don't say it enough..." Her eyes lifted up to his face as she stared sincerely. "I do love you."

In the cafeteria, H.J. grabbed two cups filled with coffee. He headed back to Hope's room where he saw his mother sitting down in the same chair as before. He held out one of the cups in front of her. "Here you go." Lightning took the cup from his hand and looked at it before taking a sip of the hot beverage. H.J. sat down beside her. "How's your coffee?"

Lightning placed her cup down as she closed her eyes. "Terrible."

He laughed letting out a little sound. "Don't worry. I'll bring you the good stuff later."

Lightning held onto her paper cup as another thought came to mind. She stared toward the cup as her hands began to tense. "Speaking of later, I need you to do something for me."

He lifted his eyes to her curious. "What's that?"

"I need you to take care of your sisters tonight." She knew that neither Faith nor Charity knew what happened to their father and wanted someone to be there for them that could comfort them.

H.J. reacted with surprise. "You're not coming home tonight?"

Lightning shook her head as she closed her eyes. "I'm staying here tonight."

H.J. became concern over her. "Mom you should rest. You don't have to keep watching dad."

There was a serious look on her face. "I'm watching over him because that same person could still be after him."

H.J. wished that she would get some rest, but he could tell that she would remain unwavering on her decision to do so. "All right."

Lightning became a little concern for H.J. "Will you be okay?"

"What do you mean?" he asked intrigued.

"With your father out of commission, won't you have to take over his position at the Academy?" H.J. leaned his head on his hand. He let out a sigh. The thought did cross his mind that he would have to take over. "I'll take that as a yes."

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "After all, he trained me to take over if there was ever a time I needed to." His eyes lowered toward the ground. "I just didn't think it would be like this."

"Are you sure that you'll be all right?"

He nodded. "Yes."

Lightning gave a small sigh of relief. "That's good."

H.J. thought of another thing that would help his mother. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He knew with his father in the hospital severely injured, it would take a long time for him to recover and news would spread regardless. He stood up from his chair. "I'll let the sitter know about what's going on."

* * *

Faith opened the door to her home. Her eyes were staring toward the ground with a look of sorrow. After leaving the Academy, she walked around the city and lost track of time. Her mind thought about what happened with her mother. A part of her felt that maybe she had pushed her too far. Usually she didn't make Lightning as angry as she did. Once she reached the kitchen inside, she was met with stunned eyes. The sitter watching over her little sister was sitting at the table with her. "Ms. Estheim? You're back already?"

Faith became a little confused. "Yeah? Why is that a surprise?"

"It's just…" The sitter became a little sad over the news she received herself. "I thought that you would be at the hospital with your mother. Your brother called and-."

As she listened to the woman, Faith started to get worried. "Wait! What? Why are they at the hospital?!"

The woman was surprised. "Didn't you hear ma'am? Your father was badly injured today and had to be taken to the hospital. He-."

As Faith froze, her mind began to zone out what the woman was saying. All she could do was worry about if her father was still alive. _"Daddy…?"_

* * *

Later at the hospital, Lightning was still sitting beside H.J. in the same chairs at Hope's bedside. H.J. had his head leaning on his hand as he looked tired. He let out a yawn. Lightning's eyes traveled over to him. "Tired?"

He straightened his body up a little. "I'm okay."

Lightning could clearly see his exhaustion. "Go home. You can sleep and then come back."

H.J. looked over at her a little concerned. "I really wish that you would do the same thing."

"I'm fine," she tried to assure him.

"Daddy?!" Lightning and H.J. heard the distressed cry. They looked over to see Faith standing in the doorway with a very worried look. She rushed over to his bedside and leaned over checking on him closely. She called out for him again. Lightning and H.J. stood up. Faith turned to them. "What happened?!"

"There was an attack. The person that was after your father got to him and hurt him pretty badly," Lightning explained. She felt a little uneasy, unsure of how Faith would take the news.

Faith couldn't believe it. "Where were the soldiers in all of this?" Her eyes tensed on Lightning's filled with anger and fear. "You said that you would protect him. How could you let him end up here?"

H.J. became angry with how she spoke to their mother and how it sounded like she was blaming her for what happened. "Thanks for asking how mom was doing. Do you have any idea what happened?! Whoever was after dad killed all of the soldiers that were protecting him! If it wasn't for mom, dad would have died!"

Faith was shocked by his answer and began to regret what she said. Her eyes traveled to Lightning who had a look of concern and hurt in her eyes. Faith's eyes lowered toward the floor. Now wasn't the time for anymore arguing. She didn't want to make her mother anymore upset than she already was and wasn't sure herself how to process what was happening. "I'm sorry," she whispered to Lightning. Afterwards she took off.

H.J. breathed out frustrated. "Honestly I think that she thinks more of herself than anyone else."

Suddenly he felt a hand lightly press on his shoulder. He turned his head to Lightning who had a look of concern. "Go after her. Make sure that she's all right."

He was surprised by her request especially after what Faith said to her. "But-?"

"We all find different ways of expressing our hurt. I'll stay here. I need you to make sure that she's all right."

"You sure?" Lightning nodded. "Fine." H.J. was unsure, but listened to her and took off after Faith. Lightning watched as H.J. left. She figured it was best for him to go rather than her. She felt that she would only cause Faith to be more upset with her and that wasn't something she wanted.

Faith headed out of the hospital. She closed her eyes. _"I could have protected him. I should have been there to protect him."_ Soon she lifted her eyes to the Academy that she could see in the distance. _"There has to be a way that this could have been prevented. Anything so that dad wouldn't have to suffer like this. I can't let him die."_ Once her eyes focused more on the Academy, she thought about the possible solutions that could help.

H.J. ran outside of the hospital doors and spotted Faith standing alone. He was breathing hard. "There you are. You really have some nerve."

Faith looked back with a pleading gaze. "H.J. help me. There has to be a way that we can help daddy."

"What do you mean? We brought him to a hospital. All we have to do is wait and he'll recover."

"But what if he doesn't?"

H.J. looked at her, but then sighed with his eyes closed. "Dad will get better. Mom will make sure that nothing bad will happen to him."

Faith pressed her fist against her chest anxious. "We don't have time for that. The person that tried to hurt dad will be back. We have to fight back."

H.J. thought that Faith was beginning to get reckless. "You don't know what we're up against. According to the forensic reports, those soldiers were killed in a matter of seconds." Faith's eyes widened in surprise and worry. She wasn't expecting to hear that. "Let mom handle it. She probably has the best chance of stopping this."

Faith lifted her eyes up. "But I want to protect him too."

H.J. gave a look of irritation. "You'll just get in the way."

Faith became frustrated with his doubt. "Instead of arguing with me, find some way to help me!"

"Do what? What happened happened. You can't just change it."

In the back of her mind, she remembered something. Her eyes widened at the thought of something she learned a long time ago. _"That's it! It's a risk, but that can save him and maybe I can figure out who's after him."_ Without a word, she took off running.

H.J. looked surprised. "Faith?! Where are you going?! Faith!" Faith kept running nonstop. She would not let anyone stop her from her mission. H.J. sighed as he closed his eyes. He placed his hand to his forehead. "Why? Why did I let mom talk me into this?" He rushed off after her. "Faith!"

Faith ran back to the Academy. The first place she headed to was Hope's office. When she reached the hallway where his office was, she saw some of the blood left over from the cleanup of the dead soldiers. She started to get worried and wondered if things were as bad as H.J. described it. She moved passed the scene and went inside of his office. When her eyes searched around her father's desk, her eyes couldn't help but notice the blood that stained his chair. There was a sad look to her face. She moved the depressing thoughts aside and began searching through his desk for a clue to what she was looking for. As she was searching, the Director's assistant step in. He was met with surprise once he saw her. "Ms. Estheim?"

Faith lifted her head as she jumped surprised. "Hey."

The assistant gave a look of remorse. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your father. I hope that he will recover soon." As he spoke, Faith lowered her eyes. She wished the same as well. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Faith remembered what she was searching for. "Yes." She walked over to the assistant. "I'm searching for a project that my father worked on. Can you help me?"

The assistant became curious as to what she was searching for. "I can try."

H.J. ran into the Academy. He stopped as he was breathing hard. His eyes searched around, but didn't spot Faith anywhere. "Mr. Esthiem?" His eyes traveled over to the voice and saw the receptionist sitting at the desk. The young girl smiled at him as she leaned her head on her hand with an interested stare. "Is there something that I can help you with Director?"

He stepped in front of her. "Yes. I'm looking for my sister Faith."

The girl looked surprised. "You mean Sergeant Estheim? Yeah I saw her run in earlier."

H.J. was glad that he was given some kind of clue. "Any idea where she went?"

The woman shook her head as she wondered what was going on. "No."

H.J. sighed. His mind raced over the possibilities of where she could be. Finally he took off running thinking of the most likely places she would go to.

As Faith stood with the assistant, his eyes searched over the computer database. "I'm sorry Ms. Estheim, but it doesn't seem like the Director did that kind of project. It's not in the public database."

Faith's eyes traveled to the side. She was sure that what she was looking for existed. "Isn't there any other way you could check?"

"Well…the Director does have a private room, but I'm not supposed to-."

Faith got anxious. "You have to show me that room!"

The assistant looked concerned. "I can't. No one is allowed without the Director's permission."

Faith started to get impatient. "I have to count for something!" She started walking off. Worried, the assistant followed behind her. As they walked, H.J. managed to spot them as he was running around.

Faith and the assistant headed to one of the secret rooms that were kept by Hope. She searched around for what she was looking for, but wasn't having luck so far. The assistant felt uneasy about being in a restricted area especially without the Director's permission. "We should go Ms. Estheim."

Faith continued searching around. Finally she made it to a circular room with a table in the middle. She was surprised. It was the room that she remembered from when she was younger. When she thought about it, she remembered being there with Hope and the smile on his face as he looked at her. She couldn't remember everything that he told her, but the main thing that she remembered was what he told her about the devices inside. She picked up one of the metal circular devices that fit in her palm. It had a rope around the top so that she could hang it around her neck. "This is it," she whispered to herself. She began pressing some of the buttons and turned to the assistant. "Now how does this thing work?"

The assistant looked around nervously. "Maybe we should go now."

"Faith!" Faith and the assistant looked over to see H.J. with an angry look. He stepped over toward them. "What are you doing here? How do you know about this room?" Faith placed her eyes on the device that was in her hand. Her hand tightened around it. H.J. looked over toward the assistant. "How could you bring her here? Only certain people are allowed here."

Faith started to get annoyed. "What are you getting upset for?"

H.J. turned his attention to her. "So this is your plan?"

"This can help daddy so that he doesn't have to suffer at all," she tried to convince him.

H.J. understood that Faith's intentions meant well, but he believed that the devices would do more harm than good. "Do you know why these things are locked away? No one was meant to use them. They can cause a lot of trouble. They're unstable. You don't know what you're getting yourself into." Faith held the device to her chest as she looked toward the ground. "Put it down Faith and let's leave here right now."

Faith thought about what he said. Hearing that the devices were unstable did worry her a little, but then she thought that her father needed help and that was more important no matter what the risk. She couldn't let him die. She couldn't lose him. Not yet. She began pressing buttons on the device.

H.J. couldn't believe that she was still trying. "Faith-!"

She continued to be persistent. "Help me figure out how these things are supposed to work."

H.J. started to get impatient with her. "Are you listening at all?! Those things are dangerous! If you know what they're about, then you wouldn't."

Faith looked over at him serious. "Help me."

"No. This is trouble waiting to happen," he argued back.

The assistant was worried about asking, but he had to know what was going on. "What exactly…are those things?"

H.J. breathed out, relaxing somewhat. Since the assistant was close to knowing, he figured that he might as well tell him. "Hundreds of years ago our father discovered time travel because of an incident involving our mother. After time became stable thanks to them and the rest of our family, our father began to research more into time travel. He thought it was possible that it could help humanity one day. If anything disastrous were to happen, then he could use time travel to help save lives and even prevent destruction from happening. In the past, he could only figure out how to move forward in time preserving his body and barely aging, but finally he had a break through. He found a way to travel through time not only forward but backwards. Shortly after, he started to think of the consequences of that action. He couldn't make the knowledge public because the Academy couldn't just let anyone travel through time. Yes we could use it to help people, but at the same time people could use it for their own selfish gains. Changing the past so that the future could be how they wanted it to be. If everyone tried to get their way, then any chance of a good future would be destroyed. He thought about giving these devices to the military, but he wasn't sure if soldiers sworn to protect people would use it to their own advantage. From then on, the project was kept top secret so no one would even think of taking these devices he created. In the end, he ended up making time travel forbidden unless ruled otherwise by the Director himself." His eyes shifted over to Faith. "Which you're planning on breaking his rules. Do you know how much trouble you can get in for doing this? Dad will have no choice but to put you away for this."

Faith looked toward the floor. It did make her a little worried about the consequences that could be placed upon her, but she had to push that aside and hope that things would work out for the best. "Then I'll get in trouble. I can't let him die."

H.J. shook his head with his eyes closed thinking that she didn't understand. "He's fine for now."

The assistant was curious. "How do you know all of this Director?"

H.J. looked over toward the assistant. "Because the Director informed me of this project a while ago. He made me study this intensively because I would be the one to protect this project one day." Soon he turned his attention to his sister. "What I'm curious to know is how do you know about it Faith?"

"When I was little, daddy showed me all of this. He told me what it was." Her eyes traveled toward the ground. "I don't understand why he did it, but I'm glad he did." She looked at H.J. "Does mom know about this?"

H.J.'s eyes searched the ground. "She knows of it, but I think after the ordeal she went through, she rather know less about it." He lifted his eyes to his sister. "Faith-."

Faith looked at him worried. "What if that person comes back and actually gets their chance to kill him this time?" H.J. turned silent. Faith gave a pleading look. "By doing this, we can find out who's behind this and stop them. We can go back to the point in time and warn him of what's to come."

H.J. was still unsure. "Then he'll know that we went against his rules."

"We'll figure this out," Faith assured him.

H.J. sighed. He found himself agreeing with Faith's idea. He just didn't want to face the trouble they could get in. "His project, his devices were never completed to the point of stability. You're risking your life here." He walked over toward her. "I can't let you go. Mom would never forgive me for letting you die over this."

Faith held the time travel device to her chest tightly. She didn't want to make Lightning anymore upset than she already was with her, but she felt as if she could do this. H.J. tried to grab onto the device, but Faith struggled against him holding onto it. During their struggle, a few of the buttons on the device got pressed. Finally Faith fell back. Her back hit against the wall which her eyes closed tight, but she managed to hold onto the device. It began to light up in her hand. When she opened her eyes, she saw a light shine below her.

H.J. looked worried. "Faith!" In front of him, she became more transparent. Faith closed eyes and disappeared completely. H.J. began to get anxious. "This cannot be happening." He rushed over to the computer that was on the table and began typing as fast as he could.

The assistant wondered what he was up to now. "What are you doing?"

"On each device, there is a tracking device telling the time and location. My father put tracking devices in them so he could see if the devices really worked. If I can find the device that Faith took, then I can find Faith. I need to bring her back to the present. Any change that she makes in the past could screw up the future." After spending a few minutes typing, he hooked one of the devices to the computer and began typing.

The assistant leaned over curious. "What are you doing now?"

"Locking Faith's location onto my device," H.J. explained.

The assistant looked surprised. "You're going after her?"

"I have to. She doesn't know how to use the device to get back to the present." H.J.'s eyes traveled over to the assistant. "Stay here. If I am not back here within a day or even a few days…" A look of concern came on his face. "Then I need you to inform the Commander of what happened." He hoped that he would be back before anyone noticed. If he was gone for too long then he knew someone was bound to get suspicious and then they would find out what he was up to. He didn't want that to happen. He knew he would get in trouble just as much as Faith.

The assistant became concerned. "Is there really a chance that this might not work?" he asked nervously.

"Yes," H.J. answered. He unhooked the device from the computer. He read the time period it locked in. "I don't recognize this time." He let out a sigh. "Here goes nothing."

"Director-?" Before the assistant could stop him, H.J. disappeared. The assistant stood worried. What if neither one of them came back?

* * *

_Thank you for reading! As always let me know what you think and I'll be back to update!  
_


	3. So Many Questions

___**Author's Notes:** Thank you to everyone for reading, posting reviews, and adding this to your favorites and alerts! I hope that you will like this chapter! _

* * *

_Chapter 3: So Many Questions:_

On the dark, hard rock ground, Faith was lying unconscious. "Hey! Are you okay?" a voice called out to her. Slowly she started to come out of her unconscious state. Her eyes opened partly. "Hey! Can you hear me?"

She turned her head and lifted it off of the ground. At first her sight was blurry, but then it began to clear up a little. Through her vision, she saw someone with silver hair and green eyes. Confusion became written on her face. The face seemed so familiar. "Hope?"

"How do you know my name?" the voice asked.

Faith sat up off of the ground. She placed her hand on top of her head as she closed her eyes. She felt a pain in her head. She breathed out to help subdue it. The boy in front of her tilted his head. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Faith became annoyed still keeping her eyes closed. "Oh! I see how it is. You felt the need to come after me didn't you? Figures! All that talk about us getting in trouble. Now that you finally listened to me, let's find a way to save daddy."

"Um…? What are you…talking about?"

Faith opened her eyes curious. "What? Did you hit your head too?" When she finally caught a clear vision of the boy before her, she became surprised. The boy definitely looked younger than her brother and not exactly the same as him. "Wait! You're not my brother. He looks a lot older than you do."

The boy sat down in front of her. "Oh! Did you lose someone?"

Faith blinked a few times. Why did the boy in front of her look so familiar? She couldn't shake the feeling. "I think so."

The boy stared at her somewhat confused. "Okay…? Before, when you were waking up, you said my name. Is that the name of your brother too?"

Faith stared at the boy stunned. "Your name is…Hope?"

The fourteen year old sitting in front of her nodded. "Yeah."

She leaned forward on her hands even more curious. It couldn't be. "Wait! What's your last name?"

Hope was surprised by her question. To him, it was weird how she guessed his name, but more strange that now she was asking for his last name. He never remembered meeting her before. "Um? My whole name is Hope Estheim. It's nice to meet you."

For a few more seconds, she stared stunned. "So your name is Hope Estheim? No junior behind it?"

Hope shook his head. More he found her questions strange. "No."

"And you're the only one you know with that name?" Faith asked to be sure.

Hope shrugged. "Yeah I guess."

She stared at him in silence again blinking a few more times. Then a big grin came on her face. She couldn't believe who she bumped into. With the way he looked, he seemed very familiar, but just very young. Her excitement got the best of her. Without thinking her arms spread out as she leaned forward. "Daddy!" She wrapped her arms around his body, knocking him down onto the ground along with her.

* * *

A few miles ahead, H.J. appeared in the area that Faith was in. He observed his surroundings. Once he seen that he was alone, he sighed. "The device must've been a little off. She has to be around here somewhere." He placed his hand to his head as he closed his eyes. "Just where is the question and where should I walk from here?"

"Hey!" When he opened his eyes, he saw a small group of four soldiers run up with guns in hand. "What are you doing out here?!"

H.J. held up his hands and gave a nervous smile. "Um…? Just looking around that's all…" He studied the soldiers and what they were wearing. _"These don't look like the soldiers that are in the future. What time period did I land in?"_

"Is he a part of the missing L'Cie we are supposed to be looking for?" one of the soldiers consulted with the others.

"He is out here alone," another member pointed out.

H.J. realized that the soldiers were beginning to think of him as some kind of enemy. The last thing he needed was trouble. "L'Cie? I'm not a L'Cie. Listen. Can you just tell me where I am?"

"Nice try kid, but you're coming with us." The soldiers began to approach him.

H.J. pressed his teeth together. _"I don't have time to get caught like this!"_ He placed his hands down and let one of them glow.

The soldiers stopped surprised. "Stay back!"

One of the soldiers pointed forward. "He is a L'Cie!"

"Let's get him!"

H.J. looked angry. "I told you that I'm not a L'Cie! Get that through your thick heads!"

The soldiers pointed their guns, ready to fire. "You have magic! That's proof enough!"

H.J. attacked with fire and managed to knock one of the soldiers back. His eyes drifted toward his hand a little surprised and concerned. _"Where am I? My magic is weaker. Am I not on Pulse anymore?" _When he lifted his eyes, he saw the soldiers approaching. He got ready to attack again when he noticed something sneak up behind them. The mysterious person attacked and hit the soldiers. They flipped over the soldiers and landed near H.J. H.J. was surprised by the person's help.

The person turned to him. "You all right?" His expression changed to stun just as much as the stranger's did. "Hope? How did you get passed me so fast? Wait… You look…different... "

H.J. couldn't believe who was in front of him. He recognized her as clear as day. "Mom?!"

Before Lightning could say anything, she turned her attention back to the soldiers who looked ready to attack. "Whoever you are kid, think you can handle some of these guys?"

H.J. was still in a stunned state. His mother was in front of him, but younger. He snapped out of his stunned state and moved in beside her. "Um? Yes!"

Lightning fought against the soldiers using her gunblade as H.J. used his magic. During the battle, one of the soldiers rushed toward H.J. The soldier tried to strike him down, but Lightning stepped in and blocked him off. H.J. fell back on the ground. When H.J. looked over at the other soldiers, he saw that they were getting ready to shoot Lightning. He couldn't let them hurt her or possibly kill her. Determined, he had an idea to stop them. "Mom!"

Lightning turned her attention to the boy wondering why he was calling her that. He knocked his elbow into the soldier's helmet making him step back. He took her hand pulling her aside and made her roll on top of his back during which he reached out and grabbed her gunblade. "I need to borrow this for a little."

Once Lightning landed on her feet, she was surprised that he managed to get the gunblade out of her hand. H.J. kneeled down. With intense focus, he shot all of the soldiers before they could shoot back. All of them fell onto the ground. After the battle was over, H.J. sighed in relief with his eyes closed as the gun tilted in his hand on his shoulder. Suddenly he felt the gunblade being taken out of his hand. When he looked up, he saw Lightning holding it. "Thanks for the help, but you should know better than to take someone else's weapon."

H.J. stood up straight. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to stop those guys before they could hurt you. I just… got in the zone."

"That was actually impressive." Her eyes traveled over to him, noticing his uniform. "You don't look like a soldier."

He smiled a little. "I'm not, but I got most of my training from you."

Lightning gave a look of confusion. Her eyes searched his as she paced around him. "Do I…know you?"

H.J. looked worried. He realized that he said too much. "No!"

She searched his face, getting more suspicious. "Back there why did you keep calling me mom? I have to tell you I'm nobody's mother and I don't want to be."

Nervously his eyes turned to the side. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that."

She arched her eyebrow as she became somewhat interested. "Did something happen to your mom or you just miss her that much?"

"Well…" He tried to think of a good way to sort of explain things to her. "Right now I'm separated from my mom and my dad, but I'm trying to get back to them."

Lightning placed her hand on her hip. "I see."

He held up his hands as he looked nervous. "I'm sorry about calling you that. You just…remind me a lot of her." He had to remember that he needed to be careful of what he said to her. Anything he said or did could change the future.

Lightning started walking away. "Are you a L'Cie too?"

H.J. walked along beside her. "No I'm not."

She was a little surprised to hear so. "But I saw that you have magic. What are you exactly?"

He smiled a little. "Well I don't really consider myself as anything. I inherited my magic from my mother and my father was a strong magic user."

Lightning didn't exactly understand it. "That's strange. You have magic, but you're not a L'Cie?"

"Well my mother was a powerful woman. She had to take on the whole world at one point." He grinned at what he said. Little did she know that he was talking about her.

More, Lightning began to wonder what kind of person he was and if she could really consider him human by what he told her. She also had to wonder what his mother was. "She sounds powerful."

H.J. smiled. "She was and she still is. I'm just glad that she's finally at rest so she doesn't have to fight anymore."

"Is your mother dead?" She wondered why he said the words "at rest".

"No. What I meant was she doesn't have to fight anymore. She hasn't had to fight really for a long time now." His eyes drifted down to the ground as he thought about what was going on now in his time and the danger that she was in as well as his father. "Well… until now that is…" Soon he lifted his head as his smile returned somewhat, thinking of something positive. "Still I know she's happy that she didn't have to."

"You mind if I ask who your mother is? Have I heard of her?"

He continued grinning, but nervously. He had to answer the question just right so that he didn't give too much away and so she wouldn't figure it out. "Um…? I'm not sure. Her name is Claire, but not many people know that. Her children barely hear it." Lightning was a little surprised to hear that. Her eyes turned away from him as she thought about her own name. "So? What's your name if you don't mind me asking?" H.J. asked. He figured it was best to pretend that he didn't know that she was his mother.

Lightning looked over at him. "Lightning, but you can call me Light. What's yours?"

"My name is H.J. It's nice to meet you Light." He wanted to laugh at the fact that he was calling his mother's name as if they were friends meeting for the first time, but kept it to himself. It was awkward enough pretending to be strangers when he already knew her.

Lightning became curious. "So what does the 'H' in your name stand for?"

He was nervous by the question. He didn't want to give that away just yet. "There's…really no rush to know that…" She was a little confused by his reaction, but let it go. H.J. looked around curiously at the area he was in. "Do you know where we are?"

"The Vile Peaks," she replied.

He placed his fingers to his chin. "The Vile Peaks… That doesn't sound like a place on Pulse."

Lightning wondered why he would bring up Pulse. "It's not. It's a place on Cocoon."

He became surprised. "We're on Cocoon? But…" He continued looking around. "...this place looks different."

"No one goes to Pulse. You'll get killed if you go there."

At first, he couldn't believe what he heard, but then again he had to realize that he was in a different time than he was used to. "So Cocoon hasn't fallen…"

"If it did, we would all be dead."

H.J. stopped in place and lifted his eyes toward the sky. _"I just hope that Faith isn't somewhere getting lost."_

* * *

Further back, Faith continued hugging Hope, squeezing the air out of him as she grinned with her eyes closed. His back was against the ground as she over him. He could barely breathe with her chest crushing him. His cheeks lit up with red. Usually he wasn't close to any girl like this. He tried to say something to her, but the words wouldn't come out. "Awe! I'm so glad that you're not in a hospital right now!" She pulled him apart from her, curious. Her hands were attached to his arms. "Wait! How old are you?"

Hope placed his hand to his chest as he was breathing hard. "I'm fourteen."

"Wow! You're really young." She looked around at the area. "I wonder what time did I land in and where I am?"

Hope looked uneasy, hoping that she wouldn't attack hug him again. He began dusting his clothes off. "You're not really from around here are you?"

Faith shook her head as she smiled. "No. I'm really glad to see you that you're okay although…this isn't the right time."

Hope was worried by the way she spoke. He wondered if she was truly okay. "Are you sure you're all right? You didn't hit your head or anything?"

"No. I'm perfectly fine." Then, an idea popped into her mind. "Oh right!" She looked at the device in her hand. "So it does work. Maybe one day I can travel through time and see my grandparents and see what they were like." Faith turned her eyes to him interested. "So what were they like?"

Hope looked confused. "Who?"

A smile crossed her lips. "Your mom and dad. What were they like? Were they nice? Well they had to be because you are."

Hope's eyes drifted to the side as some of his anger began to rise within him. "My mother is gone."

Faith started to get concerned. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"

Hope looked away from her. "She was killed okay. She was tricked by someone who caused her death."

For a few seconds, she looked at him worried. He seemed really angry by the subject. "I'm…sorry…" Her eyes drifted to the side. She wondered why she hadn't heard her father mentioned this before. She turned her eyes back to him. "What about your dad?"

That subject didn't make him happy either. "It doesn't matter about my dad. He won't listen to what I have to say. Right now I don't have any family. I'm a L'Cie so I'm out on my own."

More, Faith felt sad for him. Hope kept his eyes closed. Suddenly he felt something warm on him. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Faith was hugging him gently with her arms wrapped around him. She was kneeling down in front of him. His head rested on her shoulder. He was surprised that she was doing so. Faith had her eyes closed with her face almost buried into his shoulder. "You're not alone." He reacted more surprised because of her words. Her fingers tensed on his back. "You're going to have a family again someday and you're going to be happy." She hugged him tighter. "You're going to be a great dad." Hope wasn't sure if he understood what she meant by that or if he could believe her. Faith parted from him and gave a small, hopeful smile. "Believe me when I say that. It's going to happen." Hope blinked surprised. Before Faith could say anything, she heard voices from nearby and coming closer. "What's that?"

Hope looked over. "Oh! It's Sazh and Vanille. It's okay. They're with me."

Faith figured that it was best for her not to be seen. She smiled one more time at him. "Well you're in safe hands then." She took off running. Hope looked surprised. Faith climbed up the rock wall fast. It reminded him of when Lightning did the same thing and left him. "Hey!" he called out.

Faith lied on her stomach on the ground. Her hands grabbed onto the edge of the rock. "Oh yeah! In the future, you have to allow me to date whenever I want and you can't scare all of them off just by meeting them okay?" As Hope stared up, his face was written in confusion. Faith waved as she grinned. "Bye daddy!" Soon she took off. Hope continued to stand in a wave of confusion. Why did the girl keep calling him that? So many questions came to mind about what she said. A part of him wondered if she was mentally stable because of what she told and asked him. Shortly after, he heard his name called by Sazh and Vanille. He turned his attention to them.

* * *

Further ahead, H.J. kept walking alongside Lightning. _"I wonder where Faith went. I hope that she's not captured by these soldiers. That's the last thing we need." _

Lightning noticed him lost in thought. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," H.J. answered. "I just need to find someone that's all."

Curious, Lightning stopped. "Who are you looking for?"

H.J. stopped in front of her. "Well…she's…" Suddenly they heard something coming. Instantly they got on guard. It wasn't long before they realized someone was running toward them. H.J. squinted his eyes, but then looked surprised. "It can't be."

Faith was running toward them breathing hard. Ahead she spotted H.J. "Hope!"

H.J. looked nervous. Why of all times did she have to say his first name? Lightning looked curious at him. "Is she talking to you?"

"Um…?" He didn't really want to answer that.

"Hope!" Faith yelled again.

He sighed giving a dull look. Again she called out for him using his whole first name. "Yes…" he admitted unwillingly.

Once Faith looked over, she became surprised. It seemed that he was standing with someone that seemed very familiar. Finally she stopped in front of them, never taking her eyes off the woman. She was stunned to see her. Lightning gave her a confused look wondering why she was staring at her like that. Faith couldn't believe that she was there. She stepped forward and hugged Lightning with her eyes closed. "Mom." She knew that it wasn't her mom in the present, but nevertheless was glad to see her.

Lightning was surprised that she hugged her. She froze for a few seconds. She didn't recognize the girl at all. H.J. smacked his hand in front of his face. True he knew he called her mom, but Faith took it a step further and actually hugged her. He wasn't sure how Lightning would react plus they were starting to change the future. Lightning pushed the girl's arms away forcefully, separating from Faith. "All right! What is this?!" Her eyes traveled between Faith and H.J. "Who are you guys and why do you keep calling me that? I'm not anyone's mother. Got it?"

Before Faith could say anything, H.J. pulled her aside by him. "Sorry! She's my sister. She's just missing her mother too." Soon H.J. pulled Faith away from Lightning so that she wouldn't overhear their conversation.

Faith was surprised that he pulled her away. "What?"

H.J. looked serious. "We can't call her that. She doesn't know who we are yet."

Faith figured that he had a point. "Fine. How did you get here anyway?"

"I followed you," H.J. explained. "Come on. We better go back to the present. If we get caught here, then we could be in some real trouble."

"No. Now that we know that these things work, we can travel back to the point in time before dad was attacked," Faith told him.

H.J. sighed with his eyes closed. "We'll see okay. There's no telling what we've done to change the future now."

Faith nodded. "All right."

H.J. was surprised by her reaction. He expected her to argue with him, but she was being very calm about what he said. "Wow…! Okay then…"

Faith let out a grin. "Guess what? I saw daddy!"

H.J. was amazed to hear so. "You saw dad? So that means that he and mom aren't that far apart."

Faith leaned over observing Lightning. "Hmm? I wonder how old she is. When I asked dad, he told me he was fourteen."

H.J. was surprised and confused. "Really? Hmm…"

Lightning arched her eyebrow, noticing them look over. She was curious as to what they were talking about. Soon she walked over. Faith and H.J. stood beside each other as they smiled nervously. "Hi!" Faith greeted her.

Lightning's eyes traveled over to H.J. "So? You said that this was your sister?"

"Yes," H.J. answered her. Lightning looked over and observed Faith's uniform. She wondered what she was a part of. Since Lightning turned quiet, H.J. decided to ask the question that was on his mind. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

Lightning placed her hand on her hip as she looked at him. "Why do you want to know?"

H.J. hoped that she would tell them without getting too suspicious. "Just curious."

Lightning sighed, deciding to answer. "I'm twenty-one."

Faith and H.J. were surprised to hear her age. Faith looked over at H.J. "Wow! She's the same age I am."

Lightning looked at her a little curious. "You're twenty-one?" Faith nodded as she smiled. Then Lightning's eyes traveled over to H.J. "And how old are you?"

H.J. smiled a little. "I'm eighteen."

"So? Three years apart. Do you have magic like he does?" Lightning asked.

Faith nodded. "Yes." Afterwards her eyes turned to her brother. Her lips curved into a little smirk. "H.J. thinks that he's the better magic user."

H.J. gave a small smirk back toward her. "That's because I am."

Lightning's eyes lifted up as she became alert. "This is your chance to prove it."

Faith and H.J. turned around and saw PSICOM soldiers approaching them. Lightning took out her gunblade. Faith and H.J. got ready to attack. Together the three of them fought against the soldiers. H.J. and Faith used their magic from a distance while Lightning attacked head on. During the battle, Faith decided that using her magic wasn't stopping the soldiers fast enough. She pulled her gunblade from her carrier and attacked while switching between her gun and sword. Out of the corner of her eye, Lightning noticed the way Faith was moving. She was a little surprised. Faith's movements were similar to her own. The way she attacked and the way she would retreat by flipping backwards.

Out of the corner of his eye, H.J. spotted one of the soldiers getting ready to shoot Faith. "Faith! Switch off!" Faith's expression grew serious. She knew what he meant and tossed her gunblade toward him. She used her magic to cast Protect on herself. She held out her hands in front of her to keep her barrier strong. The soldier shot toward her, but the barrier was strong enough for her not to get hurt. In the air, H.J. caught the gunblade. Quickly, he switched to the gun and shot the soldier. The soldier fell down.

Faith's eyes darted over and saw another soldier getting ready to shoot H.J. "Hope! Look out!" H.J. looked over and saw the soldier that was getting ready to attack him. He wasn't sure if he could pull his gun in time to stop him. Faith held out her hand and casted Protect over him. She rushed behind him and grabbed the gunblade out of his hand. While the weapon was out of H.J.'s hands, he waved his hand and casted Protect over himself to reinforce her barrier. Faith rolled on the ground and shot the soldier. Together they finished off the last soldier with Faith using her gunblade and H.J. using his magic. After they were done, Faith and H.J. stood up straight. They smiled and gave each other a high five. Faith was proud of how they worked together and handled the situation. "Yeah! We did it!"

"Yeah!" H.J. agreed.

Lightning stood nearby watching with her hand on her hip. She had to admit that their teamwork was impressive. She walked over to them. "You two know how to keep up with each other and read each other's movements. That's important in teamwork." Her eyes traveled over to the gunblade in Faith's hand. She walked over and held up her hand to observe the weapon closely. She was a little surprised. Faith's gunblade was different than her own. It seemed more advanced. "Where did you get this?"

"I'm a soldier in the army. The same rank as you of sergeant," Faith explained.

"Guardian Corp or PSICOM?" Lightning had tried to figure it out since she saw Faith, but she couldn't.

Faith shook her head as she smiled. "No. Neither."

Lightning was surprised by her answer and wasn't sure what she meant exactly. "If he's not in the military and you are, then how come it looks like you both had military training. Did she train you?"

Both of them smiled toward her. "No. You did." Once they said that, they saw the confused look on Lightning's face. Instantly they changed their statements. "I mean our mother did," they both said together.

Lightning started to get suspicious. They were still comparing her to their mother. She stepped away from them. H.J. sighed. "That was close." He smiled at his older sister. "I think that we did well today."

Faith smiled as well. "Yeah. It's been a long time since we've teamed up like that. The last person we took on was mom."

H.J. placed his hand on the side of his head. There was a smirk to his lips. "Even with the two of us and teaching us everything she knew, she still kicked our butts. Even when it was two on two with her and dad, we were able to get dad, but mom, we still couldn't win."

They looked over at Lightning. Faith began to wonder. "You think if we take her on now that she would still beat us?"

H.J. wondered the same thing. "Probably."

"Hey! Soldier girl!" Faith and H.J. looked over to see Sazh heading toward Lightning with Vanille and Hope.

H.J. took Faith's hand. He started to get concerned about them being seen. "We better go." Quickly, they took off running.

When Lightning looked over, she saw that they were gone. She was surprised that they left without her noticing. Nearby Faith and H.J. were hiding higher up lying on the ground on their stomachs where they could observe the group. They looked at Lightning and then compared her to Hope. Faith pointed down to Hope. "That's daddy."

H.J. looked confused. "I don't get it. Dad is so much younger than mom. Fourteen compared to twenty-one. I thought that dad was supposed to be older. How is that possible?"

Faith shrugged. She was just as confused as him when she found out. "I don't know."

H.J. took out his time travel device. "Well we'll figure it out when we go back. We'll ask dad all right? I'm sure when we go back he'll be better." He smiled at Faith for comfort which she smiled back a little. "Right now, we should return back to the present."

Faith groaned. She was hoping that he would say that they would go back to the moment before their father was attacked. For now, she decided not to argue with him and hoped that he was right. "All right."

H.J. adjusted her device before adjusting his own. "And…that should work. Let's go." Faith looked down still disappointed. More, she thought that her brother would take her back to the present and there wouldn't be any way she could stop her father from ending up in the hospital. Soon they both disappeared.

Then, the two of them reappeared in a forest like facility. They looked around the place from where they were standing. It wasn't anywhere that they recognized. H.J. sighed as he looked down. "Where did we end up now?"

Faith continued looking around. "I'm not sure, but this place is huge." Then, they heard the loud sound of doors opening. They looked over to see Hope and Lightning running through.

Hope looked back as the doors closed behind them. "I think we got away from the soldiers for now."

"Yeah. Let's keep moving. I'll go ahead. You got my back?"

A little nervous about the idea, Hope had something else in mind. "Actually I was hoping to take lead this time."

Lightning was surprised that he wanted to lead, but then thought it wouldn't hurt to let him do so. "All right then. You take lead and I'll watch your back."

Hope nodded as he smiled. When they started walking, they noticed H.J. and Faith standing up ahead. They stopped surprised. "Hey! It's her again."

Lightning looked over at Hope surprised. It seemed like he knew at least the girl. "You've seen them before too?"

"Just the woman." A look of confusion soon appeared on his face. "It was so weird. For some reason… she kept calling me… dad."

Lightning became more surprised. "Really? For some reason, those two won't stop calling me mom." For a few seconds, Lightning's eyes met with Hope's. Was it a coincidence that they were being called that? She remembered them both saying that they were sister and brother. It was hard to imagine that they meant both of them were their parents. She couldn't understand it. She turned her head aside thinking that the idea was ridiculous and headed toward them. "You two again? You disappeared last time."

Faith placed her hands behind her back as she smiled. "Did you miss us?"

Lightning sighed as she crossed her arms. "Don't be silly. I don't even know you two."

H.J. looked at her. "Do you know where we are?"

"You're in the Gapra Whitewoods." H.J. looked over at Hope who answered. H.J. observed him. It was still hard to believe that he was so young at this point and still didn't understand why he was younger than Lightning. H.J. turned from them and began working on his device. He was trying to figure out what went wrong and why they were in the same time.

Lightning turned her eyes back to Faith. "I didn't catch your name last time. I know his."

"My name is Faith." Faith winked at her. "You might want to remember that name for future reference."

H.J. nudged her with his elbow. He turned to Hope and Lightning. "So where are you guys headed?"

"To Palumpolum," Hope answered.

H.J. looked serious as he returned his attention back to his device. "I see. To your hometown." Hope stood stunned. How did he know that? The two had never met. H.J. glanced at Hope and Lightning. "Mind if we tag along?"

"Where are you guys headed?" Lightning asked curiously.

H.J. kept his eyes on his device. "To our home."

Hope became curious as well. "Is it close?"

H.J. smirked a little as he looked at Hope. "You…could say that."

Lightning placed her hand on her hip as she looked serious. "If you stick with us, it's going to constant battle after battle."

"We can handle ourselves," H.J. assured her.

Faith nodded. "Yeah." Faith leaned in closer to H.J. as she grinned. "Plus we'll get to know mom and dad better," she said just between the two of them. Afterwards, the four of them started walking.

As they were walking, H.J. looked back at Hope. _"It's hard to believe that the leader of Pulse in the future is this boy right here. It's different seeing him like this. He seems sort of…different from the father I know." _

Hope looked at H.J. noticing him staring at him. _"I wonder how he knew where my home was. Who is this guy?"_ His eyes traveled over to Faith and thought about what she said to him earlier when they first met. Her words seem so sincere even if they were hard to believe. Curious, he caught up beside her to where they were walking beside each other. "Hey Faith?"

Faith looked over at him curiously. "What is it?"

"I was thinking about what you said earlier. Is it true about what you said about the future?" Hope asked.

She smiled. "Yeah! It will be a long time from now, but you'll see. Everything will work out."

* * *

In the present time of the year 524 AF, Lightning was still sitting in a hospital chair at Hope's bedside. Her eyes were still watching over him. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain come inside of her head. Right away she pressed her hand to her head as she closed her eyes tight. She sighed out in pain. "What…?" It took some time, but the pain managed to subside.

Once her pain began to die down, she noticed that the beeping on Hope's monitor becoming louder. When she looked over, she saw his body beginning to tense. His eyes closed tight. He seemed as if he was in pain. A little bit of sound began to escape from his lips. Worried about what was going on, she stepped over to him. She wasn't sure what she could do to calm him down. She placed her hand on his forehead and pushed the strands of his hair back. _"Maybe I should get the nurse. His condition could be turning for the worse." _She grabbed the device by his bedside and pressed the button for the nurse.

Finally his body began to calm down. With her fingers, she gently stroked his hair. "Hope?" Slightly he turned his head toward her. "Hope? Are you doing all right? Are you still in pain?" She placed her hand on his cheek. Barely he opened his eyes. It was enough for him to see that she was there with him. His chest was rising noticeably up and down. Underneath his clear breathing mask, his lips moved as much as they could, but no sound came out. She tried to read what he was saying, but it was hard to.

Soon Hope felt his self fading back into darkness. Lightning could see that he had fallen back asleep again. She stood for a few more seconds before she sat back in her chair. She placed her hand to her head as she closed her eyes. _"What was that? All of a sudden it was like… Why am I remembering Faith and H.J. right now and why do I remember seeing them in my past? I can remember them…fighting with me. That can't be possible."_ Her eyes lifted up and traveled over to Hope. _"Hope… Was he in the same kind of pain that I was? He was fine, but then reacted the same time I did. He tried to say something to me." _

"Mrs. Estheim?" a female voice called. Quickly Lightning turned her head snapping out of her thoughts and saw a nurse standing in the doorway. "Did you call?"

Lightning nodded and stood up from her chair. "Yes." It was more important to focus on Hope getting better.

In the hallway of the hospital, a group of men dressed in dark clothing were walking with smirks on their faces. They stopped by the nurses' station where there were a few nurses standing and sitting behind the desk. One of the men leaned his arm on the counter as he smirked. "Hello there! You mind telling us where Director Estheim's room is?"

The nurses were worried by how the gang looked. Nervously one of them answered. "I'm-I'm sorry. We are not allowed to disclose that information."

The man smirked more, deviously. "I think that you might want to tell us or else a lot of people are going to get hurt."

* * *

_That's it for this chapter! Thank you for reading. I'll be back to update. As always, let me know what you think._


	4. My Last Goodbye

_**Author's Notes:** Thank you for keeping up with the story, adding this to your alerts and favorites, and sending in reviews! I really appreciate the comments that were sent in about this story and also about supporting this story along with my others stories. I'm really glad to hear that people like them. It makes me a little less nervous about posting chapters and putting up more stories. _

_So is this chapter going to serious? With this one, I was actually going to post up a warning. All I can say is that this chapter is going to get intense. How intense? It's up to the reader to see how they feel after. _

* * *

_Chapter 4: My Last Goodbye:_

Inside of Hope's hospital room, the nurse that came in finished checking on him. Soon after she was done, she turned to Lightning. "He seems to be fine now. I'm not sure what caused the reaction you described earlier." Lightning's eyes traveled over to Hope. Maybe it was true that they reacted at the same time because of the same thing. The nurse held onto a chart in her hands. She gave a smile of comfort to Lightning. "I'll be back to check on him later." Afterwards she walked toward the door.

Lightning watched as she left the room. Soon she turned her attention back to Hope. She walked over to his side. When she thought back to what happened, she didn't understand what was going on. How was it possible to see Faith and H.J. in her past? A few seconds later, she heard a loud exhale. Below her, Hope opened his eyes halfway. She was a little surprised that he woke up just a few minutes after his unexpected reaction. "Hey." She stepped closer to him. "How are you feeling? Any better?" He didn't respond much so she was unsure. Her eyes lowered disappointed with herself. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head as much as he could. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that his hand was moving, trying to lift up. She grabbed onto his hand. His fingers tightened around her hand and pulled her as much as he could toward him. She followed his pull and walked over toward where his head was laying. She placed her hand on her hip. "You need to get better soon. I don't know how much longer either one of us wants to be stuck in a hospital."

In response, Hope nodded. Lightning leaned in toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck. More of her concern started to show through as she closed her eyes. "I should have been there."

Hope turned his head more toward her which made her lift her head. He shook his head. He didn't want her blaming herself in any way nor did he want her to get hurt. His fingers touched the strands of her pink hair. After some time, he placed his arm down tired. "Just rest. I'm not going anywhere." Through his mask, he tried his best to display a smile. Before she could sit down, he pushed himself to grab her hand one more time. She was surprised by his movement. It didn't matter how much pain he was in, he just needed to say one more thing. His fingers tugged at her glove. Trying to figure out what he was doing, she pulled off her glove. He was glad that he guessed the right hand. Around her ring finger, he placed his fingers on the golden band, twisting it around on her finger. She was still curious as to what he was up to. He pulled her hand toward him and placed it on his chest. She followed the direction of his hand. She was still confused as to what he meant.

Seeing the confusion on her face, he attempted to try again. He touched her ring again and placed her hand against his chest again. She realized that she was touching over his heart or at least somewhere near where his heart was. She sighed playfully with her eyes closed as if she was fighting against him, but finally decided to give into his request. "Fine…" She pulled her chair closer to his bedside as much as she could, allowing herself room for her legs. She sat down. In front of him, she crossed and rested her arms on the bed as she laid her head on his chest with her face turned toward him. There was a smile to her lips. "I'll admit it. I love you too."

Immediately she saw his reaction change into a happier one. His smile grew bigger. She shook her head and closed her eyes. Inside she was glad that she could make him smile. She started to relax against him. He began to relax as well with his eyes closed.

Suddenly Lightning heard a woman's scream. Instantly her body jerked up and looked toward the door. She got up and peeked out of it. In the hall, she saw security guards for the hospital lying on the floor not moving. The nurses were running away from the guys dressed in dark clothing. The guys were heading toward Hope's room. She started to get defensive wondering why they were there. The guy walking in the front of the group pointed forward. "His room should be that way."

Less, Lightning questioned why they were there. She stepped out of the room with her gunblade in hand. The group of men stopped once they saw her approaching. The leader of the group smirked. "Well this lets us know we're in the right place."

Lightning stopped, wondering what they were up to. "What are you doing here?"

The leader placed his hand on his hip. "We're here to see how the Director is doing. Wish him personally that he will get well."

Lightning looked serious. "Well he's not taking any visitors right now. I suggest you leave."

The leader flipped opened a knife that he had in his hand. "No. I think that this would be a good time to see him. You should move out of the way before you get hurt."

Lightning packed away her gunblade in her carrier. She felt she didn't need it with what she was up against. "We'll see who gets hurt." The leader rushed for her, but she quickly moved aside from his attack. She grabbed his arm and forced the knife out of his hand. The man cried out in pain. Her knee met with his stomach forcing him to kneel down to the ground. The man struggled to breathe. She kicked the knife aside out of his reach. Soon she turned her attention to the other men that were with him. "Now if any of you don't want to end up like him, you better leave now."

The men were a little worried, but decided to try fighting anyway. They rushed toward her. Quickly Lightning pulled out her gunblade again and fought against them, switching between her sword and gun to stop them. One by one, they fell to the floor. As she was fighting, a woman was walking nearby. She spotted her opening. Lightning was too distracted to notice her. She smirked deviously and headed toward Hope's room. Once again, she slipped pass Lightning to go after her target. She stepped inside to see him with his eyes closed. "Hello Director." She closed the door behind her so that they could be alone.

Lightning continued fighting against the men and managed to knock all of them down. She stopped, breathing hard. Once she thought about what happened, she grew suspicious. _"Something's not right… Those guys were almost too easy to take out where as the person who attacked Hope earlier killed the soldiers quickly. What if-?" _

All of a sudden she heard a gunshot. Her eyes widened. Hurriedly she rushed back to Hope's room. She wasn't sure how someone could've sneak passed her. When she got to the door, she tried to pull the handle, but it was locked. She struggled, but couldn't get it open. Finally she shot the handle off and kicked the door in. Once she ran in, she was stunned. By his bedside, she saw the woman who attacked him before standing in the same shining armor she wore. She spotted Lightning in the doorway. Lightning looked down and noticed blood through the blanket. Hope had suffered an injury to his leg. Lightning remained as calm as she could, but inside she was worried that the woman would kill him.

The woman observed her. "I know who you are. Did you come to try and save him?"

Lightning felt on edge about what the woman might do. "Why are you trying to kill him?"

"Why? This is something personal. A long time ago I needed his help and he didn't come to help me. He let me be taken away. He didn't care about what happened. I just got left behind. I was close to imprisonment, but I escaped," the woman explained.

"Still that gives you no reason to hurt him." Lightning moved her hand which had her gunblade in it, but the woman lifted the gun that was in her hand just as fast and pointed it toward Hope's head. It made Lightning flinch. "Don't move or I will kill him."

Lightning listened and put her hand back down. "Who are you?" She looked over at Hope whose eyes were squinting in pain. He glared toward the woman.

"He knows who I am. Don't you Director?" The woman reached over and took off his breathing mask. Hope gasped for air. His chest was rising more up and down. Lightning struggled to keep herself back. She knew that he needed that mask to help him breathe. She clutched her teeth together. She had to move fast. Her hand grabbed tighter onto the handle of her gunblade. "I was the one who had always been there for him. I did everything that he asked me to and even more. I didn't want things to be this way. All I wanted to do was exist in time." She glared over at Lightning. "But your family had to interfere. Your sister, those guys that she was with, they messed everything up. The Director sat by and did nothing. I thought he cared about me, but I see that wasn't the case. He just left me behind in time." More, she became angry with Lightning. "But you got lucky didn't you? All this time, he was looking for you. Searching for you nonstop. Then both of you would just live happily ever after."

Lightning was tired of hearing the woman talk. Her eyes kept shifting back and forth between her and Hope waiting for an opening to help him. "I asked you a question. Who are you?"

The woman smirked. "Does it matter anymore? Everyone will pay for what they've done starting with him." She quickly raised her gun back up to his head.

Lightning's eyes widened. At that moment she was afraid that this would be the end. She extended out her hand. "Stop-!"

Then she heard the shot. She saw it happen in front of her eyes. Her eyes began to shake. Slowly her arm lowered to her side. Her back fell against the wall in shock. No words could come to her. She wished that it was just a bad dream, but right in front of her was reality. What lied in front of her now was a lifeless man.

The woman walked toward the door. "Hmm… I changed my mind. I guess since he can't tell you now I could let you know who I am. About one hundred years ago, I was the Director's assistant." She shrugged. "I guess former Director now." As the woman strolled passed, Lightning tried to go after her, but her body wouldn't respond. It was unusual, but she was still in shock. After the woman left, Lightning stood frozen for a few seconds longer. She continued staring forward. Finally she got her legs to move forward. She walked over to Hope's bedside. She checked his pulse, but couldn't feel anything. Her eyes lowered in grief. Her fingers brushed against the skin of his cheek which was starting to lose his warmth.

The woman kept walking, but then suddenly turned. In a flash, she saw Lightning rushed toward her with her gunblade in hand. She collided her sword with her gunblade. "I was wondering if you would come after me." She pushed Lightning back. "Come on! I've been doing this for years." The two began fighting. Their swords collided. With her magic, the woman moved her hand forward and knocked Lightning back.

Lightning's eyes widened. She didn't expect her to have magic and she was too late to dodge it. She flew through the wall into another room. Inside of the room, she managed to get up on one hand and knee on the ground. She was breathing hard. This was not going to be an ordinary battle. If she wanted to stop the woman, then she needed to use her own magic. The woman stepped through. She headed toward Lightning as she was still on the ground. Once the woman got close enough, Lightning quickly attacked with her own magic and knocked her back. She flew back into the hallway.

The two continued fighting, causing things to break through the hospital. During the battle, Lightning began to gain the upper hand. The woman started to worry. She jumped back before Lightning could strike and ran off. Lightning ran after her, but wasn't sure where she went off to. Her eyes searched around as she walked carefully. Behind a corner, the woman looked over noticing that she was coming. Her mind raced to think of what she could do to stop her.

Lightning continued searching. Suddenly someone ran out into her line of vision. She raised her gunblade, but then saw that it was a scared nurse. She held up her hands. "Please! Don't hurt me!"

Lightning stepped closer to her while still keeping an eye out for the woman. She turned her attention to the nurse. "You need to get out of here. It's not safe. Stay with the patients in their rooms."

The nurse nodded. She was still shaken. "Yes ma'am, but I have to warn you that-!" Suddenly the nurse fell as her eyes widened. She started falling forward as blood stained her clothing. Lightning wanted to react quickly to catch the woman, but then saw something move rapidly out of the corner of her eye. The woman managed to get close. Lightning tried to dodge, but the woman managed to cut the side of her stomach with the tip of her sword. Lightning's eyes flinched in pain. The woman placed her hand over the wound and used her magic to infect the wound. Lightning sighed in pain, but managed to push her away and slash her with her sword. The woman stepped back. She placed her hand over her wound and stumbled off as much as she could.

Lightning wanted to go after her, but she breathed out in pain loudly as she grabbed onto her wound. She tried searching around for the woman, but couldn't find her. When the pain got to be too much, she found a desk nearby and slid down against it. Her vision started to fade to black. A few minutes later, the nurses and doctors stepped out of hiding once things became quiet. One of the nurses noticed Lightning sitting on the floor unconscious. She looked worried. "Hey! Someone! Hurry! There's someone here that's badly hurt!"

Sometime later, Lightning opened her eyes. Above her, she saw a white ceiling. When she looked around, she realized that she was in a hospital room and lying on a hospital bed. She could feel a little pain going though her body. A few minutes later, a doctor stepped in. A relieved smile came to her. "Good. You're awake." Lightning struggled to sit up. As she tried, the doctor became concerned. "Please! Don't move too much. You've suffered a terrible injury." Lightning wondered what she was talking about. Finally her eyes traveled down and saw that bandages were wrapped around her stomach. Through her bandages, she saw some red bleeding through. "Oh no," the doctor replied.

Lightning wondered what was going on. "What?"

"Your wound. It seems to be bleeding again. For some reason, no matter how many times we try to reclose the wound, it keeps reopening. If it doesn't reclose soon, then you could bleed out and as a result… that could end your life." Lightning looked down at the wound. The doctor went over and began to work on it. "I don't understand it. No matter what, it won't close."

Lightning turned her head toward the doctor. Even though she remembered everything she went through, she had to be sure of one thing. "Can I ask you something?"

The doctor lifted her head curious. "What is it?"

Lightning almost didn't want to ask, but she had to be sure. "Director Estheim? Is he…?"

The doctor looked down as a sad look came to her face. "I'm sorry." The answer didn't surprise Lightning, but she thought that maybe there was a small chance she was wrong. "From the injury he took, he didn't suffer," the doctor assured her. Lightning turned quiet. Her eyes stared forward like an empty void and her body nonresponsive. The doctor continued addressing her wound. A few minutes later, the doctor left her alone.

Once Lightning saw that she was alone, she sat up as she closed her eyes and put her head down. Thinking back to earlier, the grief she felt came to the surface all at once. She placed her hand against her face. Her fingers tensed through the pink strands of her hair. Her body shook. A few tears escaped from her eyes as they were shut tightly. She couldn't stop Hope's death from happening and wasn't sure how she could tell everyone especially her children.

Abruptly her eyes flinched in pain. They traveled over to the wound on the side of her stomach. She saw red starting to spread slowly onto the white bandages. She pressed her hand on her wound. She tried to use her magic to heal herself. It caused her pain, but it helped a little. Seeing that it wouldn't heal completely, she thought back to earlier when the woman attacked and the magic that she used on her wound. She tried to heal herself again, but it couldn't heal her completely. _"What did she do to me? Whatever she did blocked my magic from working."_ She leaned back against her bed as her eyes lifted to the ceiling. She went over the doctor's warning in her mind. So far, the doctors couldn't stop her bleeding and neither could she heal herself with her magic. If she couldn't figure out how to stop it, then she would have to face a worse possibility that she would have to prepare for.

* * *

Later, the sound of feet hitting the floor made Lightning turn her head. When she looked over toward the door, she saw a familiar little girl with bright green eyes and silver hair. A grin came on her face once she saw Lightning. She ran over to her bed side and began to crawl upwards. "Mommy!"

A smile curved at Lightning's lips. She placed the little girl on her lap and stroked her silver hair. "Hey."

Following behind her was the sitter caring for her. The woman smiled. "She's been asking for you all yesterday."

Charity gave a slight look of disappointment and concern. "You didn't tuck me in."

Lightning turned her eyes to her. She placed her hand on top of her head. "I know. I'm sorry."

Charity let out a excited smile. "You have to come back so you can read to me." Lightning wasn't sure what she could say. At that moment, she wasn't sure if she would be coming back. Charity searched around curiously. "Hey! Where's daddy?"

Hearing her ask that made Lightning stunned for a moment. She wasn't expecting her to ask so soon. She couldn't really come up with an easy answer. All she could give her was the truth. "Daddy he's…" Before she finished, she froze. She didn't want to place that on her daughter yet. Instead she came up with a different answer. "Daddy is going to be away for a little while."

Charity looked curious. "When is he coming back?"

It was getting harder with each question she asked her. "He's… He's going to be gone for a while, but you'll see him again."

Charity smiled. "I hope it's soon! He told me he would take me to the biggest, funniest park there is!" Lightning gave an uneasy smile. Behind it was sorrow. No longer could Hope carry through on any of the promises that he made to his children. Even if she tried to help him carry through on those promises, she felt that she didn't have much time left herself. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain at her side. She closed her eyes tight.

Charity leaned forward curious. "Mommy? Are you okay?"

The sitter became worried. "Mrs. Estheim?! Should I get the nurse?!"

Lightning lifted the blanket from her and saw blood covering over the bandages again. She hovered her hand over the wound and used her magic to heal it somewhat. She turned her attention back to the others. "No. I'm fine." More, she was beginning to realize that she didn't have much time left to do everything she needed to. She pulled her daughter forward and embraced her. "I need you to do something for me. I need you to be a big girl for me okay?" She separated from Charity, leaving her hands on her shoulders. "Listen to Faith and H.J. okay? Can you promise me that?"

"Mommy?" Charity started to look worried.

Lightning lifted her head so that their eyes would meet. "No pouty faces remember? Give me the big girl look."

Charity listened and made a serious face. "Yes mommy."

"Come here." Lightning moved in closer to her and hugged her again. "I need you to be strong okay?"

"You are going to get better right?" she could hear Charity's voice in her ear.

Lightning's eyes lowered. She didn't want to lie to her and tell her that things would be all right. The woman watching over them was worried. She could figure out what was going on without Lightning saying a word.

A nurse walked into the room. Once she did, the sitter came up with an idea. She smiled as best as she could toward Charity. "Hey! How would you like to get something sweet while I talk to your mother?"

Lightning looked at Charity and smiled at her. "That sounds like a good idea."

The sitter turned to the nurse. "If it's all right, could you please show her where the sweets are?"

The nurse nodded as she smiled sweetly. "Sure!" She looked down at Charity. Charity followed her out of the room.

Once they were alone, Lightning relaxed against her bed as she breathed out. The sitter turned to her worried. "Mrs. Estheim ma'am? Is Mr. Estheim…?"

Lightning looked serious. "Yes. He died a few hours before you arrived."

The sitter's eyes lowered in sadness. "I'm…I'm very sorry-."

"Where's Faith and H.J.?" Lightning changed the subject. She didn't want anyone feeling sorry that she had lost someone.

"I don't know. I haven't seen them since yesterday. The last time I saw Faith, I had just told her that her father was in the hospital and she ran out." Lightning was surprised by the news. She had no idea where they could be either. "Ma'am? What did the doctors say about your condition?"

"From the looks of it, I don't have much time left. Can you look after Charity until Faith and H.J. come back? They can pay you for the extra hours."

The woman shook her head as she closed her eyes. "There won't be any need."

"Please. If you see Faith and H.J. soon, could you tell them about what happened if I don't get the chance to?"

The woman nodded. She would honor Lightning's last wish. "Yes ma'am."

Lightning gave her a sincere look. "Thank you for everything."

Soon Charity came in with candy in hand. The girl held up her hands. "Mommy! Look what we found!"

Lightning frowned. "Do not eat that all at once. I don't need your teeth rotten out. You'll look like an old woman," she warned her.

"Just like that time that daddy showed us." Charity retracted his lips inwards covering over her teeth in an attempt to look like an old woman. In response, she laughed the loudest as the sitter laughed as well. It brought a smile to Lightning's face to see her smiling and happy. It even brought a silent chuckle to her. Charity lifted her green eyes to Lightning. Her expression changed to surprise. As she watched her mom, she saw a tear escape and roll down her cheek as she was still laughing a little. "Mommy? Why are you crying?"

It came as a surprise to Lightning. She placed her hand against her cheek feeling the cold water that was against it. She shook her head as she closed her eyes. She didn't realize that she did. She wiped her eye with her finger. "No reason."

Charity became curious and concerned. "But why do you cry and laugh at the same time?"

Lightning smiled for Charity. "I'm just…It's because it was really funny." Inside, when she wondered about it herself, she figured it was because she thought about that memory when Hope was still alive. Clearly she could still remember his smile that she loved about him. She kept her emotions of grief back to stay strong.

"When are you coming home mommy?"

Lightning's smile faded. She turned silent and stared into the anxious eyes of the girl before her. What could she tell her? That she would be back in no time? Everyone in the room remained silent. "I…" She picked up Charity from off the ground and sat her in her lap. "I'm…I'm going to be somewhere else for a little while okay?"

Right away Charity's look turned to sadness. She hugged onto Lightning as she closed her eyes tight. Tears began to escape from her. "No! I don't want you to go!"

It was getting harder to tell Charity anymore. Gently Lightning pulled her apart from her and smiled as best as she could. She placed her hands on her round cheeks. "No crying remembering? It will just be temporary, but then you'll see me again before you know it okay? Okay?" Charity nodded a few times. Her cheeks burned with red. With her thumbs, Lightning wiped away the tears from her eyes. "Listen to your brother and sister and do what they say. Remember that I love you and your dad loves you too."

The girl nodded. "I love you too mommy and daddy too."

Hearing that brought a smile to Lightning's lips. "You guys should probably go now." She stroked Charity's long, silver hair. "It's almost time for your nap anyway."

Charity lied down beside her. "Can I stay here with you and sleep?"

Lightning shook her head as she gave a strict look. "No. You have to go sleep in your own bed."

Charity moaned. "Please! I'll go to sleep right away!" she cried.

Lightning shook her head. "I'm sorry, but my answer is no." Charity's lip quivered as her eyes began to water. "What did I say? No crying okay?"

"Fine…" Charity slid off of the bed while Lightning was holding her hand to help her down. She joined her babysitter. Lightning still held onto her hand. Charity smiled at her. "Bye mommy."

Lightning gave the best smile she could. "Goodbye," she whispered. It was hard, but she let Charity's hand slip out of hers. Lightning's eyes met with the woman's as they were walking away. They remained silent thinking all they had to say was covered. Soon both of them left the room. Lightning rested her head back against her pillow. Nothing inside of her liked what she had to say to Charity, but she was glad that she got to see her one last time at least. She closed her eyes as she placed her hand to her head. _"I wonder if she'll even remember this. She's still so young. She might forget what Hope or I look like."_ Then her mind thought about pictures that were in the house of them together. At least that way, she couldn't forget their faces. Her mind cleared of that and went on to think of what she had to do next. She wasn't completely sure.

Then she heard a voice. "Commander!"

Lightning opened her eyes and looked over toward the door. There she saw the Director's assistant. She was surprised that he stopped by. He stopped nearby her. "Commander…"

"What brings you by here?"

The assistant's eyes lowered in sadness. "I heard about what happened to the Director. I'm sorry."

Lightning turned her head up toward the ceiling. "Word spreads around fast doesn't it?" She turned her head back to him. "Have you seen H.J.?" The assistant became worried which Lightning noticed and became suspicious. "What?"

He shook his head nervously. "It's nothing."

Lightning sat up. "You know something don't you? Listen. I don't have time to guess so just tell me what's going on."

The assistant was worried about saying something for fear of H.J. and Faith getting in trouble and he knew about it. Lightning sighed. She pulled off her blanket. The assistant's eyes widened seeing the blood that was on her side. "Commander?!" He froze for a second. "I'll-I'll get the nurse!"

She gave him a stern stare. "No. I don't have a lot of time so if you know where H.J. is, I need to know now."

At first he hesitated, but then a few seconds later, the assistant nervously explained that H.J. went chasing after Faith through time. Lightning was surprised to hear the story. She placed her hand to her head. "That might explain why I remember seeing Faith and H.J in my past. Maybe at the same time Hope saw them too. Maybe that's why we reacted at the same time." As she sat there, she knew that she wouldn't have time to speak with the two of them, and there was no telling if they would be back in time or what time they would land in. She couldn't wait. It was then an idea came in her mind. It was risky, but she had nothing else to lose. "Those things that they used to travel back in time…" She lifted her head to the assistant. "Is there some way that I can use them to travel back as well?"

The assistant was surprised. "I think I remembered how H.J. used them. Why?"

"I'm going after them," Lightning answered.

The assistant looked worried. "But Commander? Are you sure that's wise? I mean-."

"I'm as good as dead anyway. This is important. I need you to do this for me now!"

"Yes ma'am!" As the assistant rushed back to the Academy to get what they needed, she tried to figure out how to stop the bleeding, but nothing was working. As soon as he could, the assistant returned back with the device in hand. Lightning dressed back into her uniform from her hospital clothes as the assistant worked on the device and programmed the time into the device. He looked over toward her concerned. "Are you sure about this Commander?"

Lightning finished putting on her coat. "Yes." She stood up and went over to him. She took the device from his hand. "Tell me how this thing works."

"I have the time period they've been tracked in locked onto the device. All you have to do is press this button right here." The assistant pointed to the button.

"Good." Lightning was about to go, but then the assistant spoke.

His eyes lowered toward the ground. "Director Estheim…He was a good man…"

Lightning's eyes traveled over to him before she looked to the device in her hand. "Yeah…I know… I need you to do one more thing for me. Help H.J. as much as you can. Seeing that the Director is gone, he automatically takes over. Also I need you to go through the Director's contacts. I need you to contact Serah Villers and warn her about what happened just in case."

"Would you…also like me to inform her of what has happened to you and Director Estheim?" the assistant asked to be helpful.

For a few seconds she turned quiet before making her decision. "No. It would probably be better if it comes from someone in her family." Suddenly she closed her eyes in pain. Straight away her hand moved to her side where it was bleeding.

The assistant became antsy and worried. "Commander! Do you need anything!?"

Lightning shook her head. "No." She managed to stand up straight. "I'm fine. I'm going now." She pressed the button to activate the device.

The assistant was worried about her leaving. "Commander-!"

It was too late. She had already disappeared.

* * *

In the past, Lightning walked with her hand pressed against her wound. The bleeding along with the pain was starting to get worse. As she walked, she looked around at her surroundings. "Well this place looks familiar." Back in time, she was in a Fal'Cie facility in Palumpolum. There was no sign of Faith and H.J. being there. She hoped that she would find them before it was too late.

Further ahead, Faith and H.J. were walking with Hope and Lightning of the past. H.J. kept his eyes on his time traveling device as he was walking. His glasses were on as he tried to concentrate. He was still trying to figure out a way to get Faith and him back to the present. Faith had a smile on her face as she spoke with the younger Hope, but then noticed something up ahead. She stopped which the others noticed. H.J. looked over curious as he stopped. "What is it Faith?"

Her eyes widened a little more in surprise. "Mom?"

Right away, H.J. turned his head. He couldn't believe what she was saying. There was no way that she could be there. Once he looked over, his eyes widened as well. "Mom!"

The past Lightning and Hope stopped as well. Up ahead, they saw the future Lightning walking with her hand pressed on her side. Her head was down as she was walking slowly. Faith and H.J. noticed her movements and started to get worried. Faith took off running first. "Mom!"

H.J. ran after her. "Mom!"

Faith met with her first and tried checking over her. "Mom? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lightning whispered. She couldn't lift her head to look at her face.

H.J. stopped in front of her and followed the direction of her hand that was pressed against her side. He was surprised and started to get worried. "You're bleeding."

"It's just a scratch," Lightning tried to get them not to worry so much about her.

H.J. observed the wound more, his concern never leaving. "No. It's more than just a scratch."

Lightning felt her legs starting to weaken. She leaned forward somewhat. Faith and H.J. managed to catch her before she fell. Faith looked worried. "Mom!"

"Come on Faith. We need to sit her down," H.J. told her. Faith placed one of her arms over her shoulder as H.J. placed the other over his shoulder. They helped her off to the side near one of the machines and helped her to sit down. Her back leaned against the control box. Lightning breathed out as she had her eyes closed. H.J. checked on her. "Mom? What's going on? How did you get here? How did you know that we-."

There was no time to answer questions. Lightning had to finish what she set out to do. "Listen. I don't have a lot of time…" Faith and H.J. were worried about her words. "I need you to return back to the present. I need you to watch over your sister."

H.J. became suspicious and concerned. "What happened? Did something happen to dad?" Once H.J. asked that, Faith became more anxious and concerned.

Lightning leaned her head back against the box with her eyes closed. Little by little, she was starting to lose consciousness. "Your father…Your father's gone."

Faith and H.J. looked surprised and worried. "Gone? What do you mean gone?" H.J. asked.

Lightning didn't want to explain what she meant, but she had to let them know. "The person who attacked your father came after him. She used a decoy to lure me away from him. While I was away, she got close to him and… I'm sorry… Your father-. Your father is dead."

Faith took a sharp breath in as her body jerk. Her eyes stared stunned. She felt that she was too late to save him. H.J.'s eyes lowered to the ground. He breathed out. "He's…gone… but… that doesn't explain why you're here."

"I needed to see you two one last time. Your father's assistant told me what you two had done." Lightning's eyes traveled between both of them. A faint smirk appeared on her lips. "Once again you two are nothing but trouble." They noticed the look on her face and could see that she was picking on them.

H.J. levitated his hand over her wound. "Mom let me heal you. We need to stop the bleeding so-."

Lightning placed his hand down. "You don't think I've tried?" H.J. looked surprised. "The woman who killed your father, I fought against her. You need to be careful. This wound that she gave me, no matter what I try to do, it won't heal. I've tried my magic and the doctors have tried to stop it, but it won't. As a result, I don't have much time to be here with you guys."

Faith gasped a little as her body jerked back. "You…" She leaned forward on her hands worried. "You can't be dying. Please. Let us try to heal you." H.J. and Faith placed their hands out and tried to heal her, but it wasn't working.

As they were doing so, the past Lightning stepped over to see what was going on. Once she saw her future self, she stopped stunned. Why did the woman sitting in front of her look so much like her? H.J. pulled back a little. His mind was running out of options. "It's not working."

More Faith became anxious as she looked over at him. "We have to keep trying."

"Save your magic," Lightning told them.

Faith and H.J. stopped what they were doing. Grief began to overtake Faith. She grabbed onto her knees tightly. She was trying hard not to cry. She held her head down as her bangs fell over her eyes. "You can't…You can't just leave us like this… We still need you."

Lightning lifted her eyes to her. "No you don't. You're strong enough that you can both take care of yourselves."

"I'm sorry," Faith cried out.

Lightning looked surprised. "About what?"

"I'm sorry about what I said to you before I left." Faith shook her head with her eyes closed. "I should have never said that to you. I didn't mean it. I was just upset. I was just listening to those rumors that people say, but still I had no right. I know you earned your way to being what you are today. If saving the world twice wasn't enough, then I don't know what is. I just want to be…as strong as you are."

Her words made Lightning's lips curve more into a gentle smile. She placed her hand on top of Faith's shoulder. "Faith you are strong. Maybe I did underestimate you and I had no right to do to you what I did."

Faith lifted her eyes to see her mother's smile. Unable to hold back, she moved in closer to Lightning and wrapped her arms around her neck. Faith closed her eyes. "I don't want you to leave me," she whispered to her.

Lightning placed her hand on Faith's back. Her head leaned on Faith's shoulder as she closed her eyes. "You won't be alone. I may not be here physically, but I'm never too far away." Lightning turned her head to H.J. who seemed worried. "The same goes for you. You're smart so I need you to be strong too."

H.J. nodded. He wasn't sure what he could say at that moment. All he wanted was her not to leave them. Lightning held out her hand toward him with a gentle, inviting smile on her lips. At that moment, he felt the need to be closer to her. He didn't want to shed tears, but felt his emotions come to the surface. He tossed his glasses off to the side on the ground. He moved over and buried his face on the side of her neck. He closed his eyes and placed his arm around her as much as he could. He tried to think of the right thing to say, but nothing seemed to sound right to him. He closed his eyes tight. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." Lightning rested as Faith and H.J. continued to lean against her. She opened her eyes and looked over to see her past self staring at her. She sighed as she closed her eyes. "Of course you two would find me. Your father would not have like this. You're not supposed to see your past self."

The past Lightning placed her hand on her hip as she frowned. "Past self? Right… How am I supposed to know-?"

"Whether you believe me or not, it's up to you. I could tell you anything about your past you want, but instead, I'll say this. There's going to be a lot of hard battles ahead of you. Some you don't know if you can get through, but you'll find out as long as you never give up, then you'll make it through. In the end…" The future Lightning placed her hands on the back of Faith's and H.J.'s heads. "You'll find that the result after was… something you never expected and for that…you'll find that peace and at last be…happy." She placed her head on top of Faith's as she closed her eyes.

With her fingers, Faith grabbed on tighter to Lightning's jacket. Her eyes closed tighter as tears began to escape. Lightning opened her eyes. When she looked over again, she saw Hope standing nearby. Her lips increased into a smile as she closed her eyes. "No matter how many years have passed, it's still hard to believe it was you." She returned her attention back to her children. She could feel her vision starting to black out. "Remember. Take care of each other all right? Your father and I…we both care about you very… much..." she whispered between the three of them. She leaned her head back against the box with her eyes closed. Slowly her hands began to slip from them and land on the ground at her sides. She had done everything that she had set out to do in her last moments. Peacefully she had accepted what had come to take her away.

A few minutes later, Faith lifted her head curious. "Mom?" She shook her a little. "Mom?" There was no response. Faith looked worried.

H.J. placed his fingers against her neck to check for a pulse, but felt nothing. He tried again for a few more seconds. Soon he turned his eyes to Faith. "I'm sorry. She must've bled out." His eyes traveled toward the side. "I should have done something. I should have thought of something-."

"No!" Quickly Faith turned toward Lightning and wrapped her arms around her neck again. "Wake up! Please! Wake up!" She shook Lightning along with herself, but it didn't get her to move. More Faith began to cry. Her sound became more audible to the people around her. "It's not fair. It's not fair. Both of them are gone." H.J. looked upon her with sadness. Faith continued to shed tears. "It's not fair…" her voice began to fade.

"Faith…" H.J. stood up. He placed one hand on Lightning's back and the other underneath her legs. Faith lifted up to see what he was doing. He helped her to lie flat down on the ground. He placed her hands one on top of the other at her waist. "We need to go back to the present. We can't leave her here and we have to get back to our sister. That's what she would've wanted. I need more time to find a way back."

"Is that all you can think about right now?" he heard a cold whisper from nearby. H.J. lifted his eyes to Faith who looked irritated through her sadness. Her fists baled at her sides. "Our mother and our father, they both are dead and you want to go back to the present? I say we prevent this from happening."

"No! What did I say about screwing up the past?"

"I'm not talking about changing the whole timeline! Just to that moment before dad was attacked. We can protect them both. We can save them!" Faith argued back.

H.J.'s eyes traveled to the side. "We will see. I need some more time." He got up and walked away. Faith's eyes lowered to the ground.

Nearby the past Hope stepped over to the past Lightning. "That woman…she looks a lot like you Light." Lightning was sure what to say. It was disturbing to watch what happened. To see her death before her eyes.

* * *

_Thank you for reading. This chapter still makes me sad every time I read it. Find out what happens next time. __As always, let me know what you think.__ I'll be back to update. _


	5. I Will Save You

_**Author's Notes:** Thank you to everyone for keeping up with the story, adding this to your favorites and alerts, and sending in reviews. I was glad to hear some of the reactions to the last chapter! I hope that you will like this chapter! _

* * *

_Chapter 5: I Will Save You:_

Minutes had passed with nothing but silence between the four. The past Hope and Lightning continued to stand nearby as they watched Faith and H.J. Faith was sitting against the control box as she had her knees up and arms wrapped around the top of her legs. Her head was buried within the space her arms made, keeping her face hidden. Nearby H.J. was working on the time travel device turned away from the others. Concerned for her, Hope stepped over and leaned toward Faith. "Hey. Are you okay?" Faith didn't lift her head nor respond in any way. Hope wasn't sure what he could say to help, but he wanted to try. "I'm really sorry about what happened."

Finally Faith lifted her head. Her eyes searched into his. "You…don't need to be…" Her eyes shifted away unable to look at him for much longer. As much as she appreciated Hope trying to console her, it had only reminded her of what she had lost in her time.

H.J. stood up from the spot that he was sitting in and turned toward Faith. "Come on Faith." Quietly Faith looked over at him. He gave her a serious look. "We should go."

"Where are we going?" Faith asked curiously.

H.J. picked up their mother from off of the ground, placing one hand under the back of her knees and the other on her back. "We're going back."

Faith wasn't ready to return back to their time yet. She was still focused on saving their parents. "Aren't we going to stop this from happening?"

"The important thing is to get her back to the present," H.J. pointed out, set on his idea.

The past Lightning stepped over unhappy and more curious about what happened. "Not before you tell me what's going on here."

H.J. looked serious. "It's better for you to forget what you saw here. You guys should probably get going to where you were headed." The past Lightning looked down at her future self. The future Lightning still had her eyes closed with her head tilted back against H.J.'s arm. Her arm was hanging down, pointed toward the floor as the other rested against her stomach. There was still blood that stained her uniform. More, the past Lightning wondered what her future would be like and what she was involved in. Slowly her hand reached out toward the lifeless body in front of her, but H.J. quickly stepped away from her. "Don't! Right now the effects of her being in this time are unknown and one touch could cause something disastrous. Listen. Time needs to continue on as it usually does. Any changes that are made could even result in us not existing so please. I ask that you forget what you've seen here. Forget about us. Pretend this never happened."

Lightning couldn't just let this pass. "I'm just supposed to forget about this?!"

H.J. hoped that she would see his side of things. "In order for the future to stay as it is, then it's better if you do, so please, I ask that you listen to me."

The past Lightning wasn't sure about listening to him. Faith stood up determined. For now she buried her sorrow to be strong for what she needed to do next. "We'll find some way to make this right. I promise that I won't let you die. Please do as H.J. says. Please?"

Lightning turned to her. Her eyes searched Faith's. She saw how serious Faith was. Finally she sighed and started walking away. "Come on Hope."

Hope was surprised that Lightning was leaving just like that. "But-?"

Lightning stopped and looked back at him. "We need to go before PSICOM comes to find us. We're still wanted as L'Cie plus we still need to make our way to Eden." For now, Lightning would trust Faith and H.J. and let them handle the future. On the inside, this was a lot of information to take in, but she needed to focus on what was happening in the present.

Hope turned silence and started following her. Before he caught up with Lightning, Hope stopped and looked at Faith. There was one question he couldn't let go of. "Your mother? The one who died today? Was that really... Lightning?"

Faith didn't answer him. She thought about what H.J. asked Lightning to do and figured to ask him to do the same. "You should catch up with her. Don't worry about what you've seen here."

His eyes traveled toward the ground. "If that was…really her, then was it true when you called me-?"

"It's best that you listen to what H.J. said. Try to forget about what happened here. It's for the best," Faith tried to convince him.

As much as he wanted answers, he decided to let it go like she said and took off to catch up with Lightning. Faith and H.J. watched as the two of them left. After they disappeared, Faith turned to H.J. "Come on Faith. Let's return back to the present."

Faith became irate with him. "So you're not going to do it? You're not going to help stop this from happening?"

"Let's just do this one thing at a time. First we need to-."

"Just stop it!" Her yell had made him turn silent. "You're not going to do it. You're just making up excuses because you're afraid of changing the past."

H.J. became frustrated as she was. "Just do as I tell you so we can get back!" He instructed her on how to work the device so that they could get back home. In silence Faith listened, but was still upset with H.J.'s decision. H.J. set his own device. "All right. Let's go back." Faith frowned. She wasn't ready to go back yet. H.J. could see her hesitation. "Come on Faith."

She would stand her ground. She was determined to see her plan through. "I'm not going. Not with you."

"Will you just listen to me?! We don't have time for-." Before he could finish, Faith took off running frustrated. She was done with the arguing. It was getting them nowhere. She would do what needed to be done. H.J. reacted with surprise. "Faith!"

Faith ran further into the facility. She stopped when she felt that she was far enough away from H.J. She breathed hard as her eyes stared toward the ground. When she took the time to think about it, she had to be ready to travel back so that she could save her parents. She stood up straight and pressed the buttons on her device. Soon after, she disappeared.

* * *

When Faith reappeared, she became surprised. She was standing in the stairwell inside of a house. _"Wait… This isn't where I need to be… This is…"_ She stepped down the stairs and peeked around the corner cautiously. In the living room she saw Lightning with her back turned sitting on the floor. Faith's eyes traveled down to the device, wondering where she was and why she was there_. "Wait! This isn't the year 524 AF. I must've made a mistake. This is the year 504 AF. By this time…I was just a baby."_ She lifted her eyes to Lightning who had her attention turned elsewhere._ "This was the house we stayed in before we moved. I was the only child back then." _

In front of Lightning was Faith lying as a child on a blanket. Lightning leaned against the couch with her elbow pressed into the cushion as she looked serious. She placed the side of her head against her hand. "You're a hyper one aren't you?" On the floor, Faith was wiggling her body, mainly moving her arms and legs. "At least you're not crying. Now how do I get you to go to sleep?" Lightning continued watching as Faith moved around. She reached her hand over and gently poked Faith's pudgy stomach with her index finger. In response, the little girl let out a loud laugh causing her to kick out her feet more. She grinned, showing off the few teeth that had grown in. Lightning was surprised by her reaction. "Wow! I usually can't get you to laugh." Interesting in trying again, she began tickling Faith's stomach which caused her to laugh more. That brought a smile to Lightning's lips. She wanted to learn more about what worked. An idea came to mind that she had seen done before, just not by her. While no one was around to see it, she could try it. She leaned down and blew on Faith's stomach causing a loud sound. Faith continued to laugh loudly.

In the stairwell, as Faith continued to watch her mother with herself, a gentle smile appeared on her lips. _"Mom…"_ Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something moving toward her. Quickly she looked over and saw Hope walking in from the back door wearing his Academy uniform. There was a grin on his face as he watched Lightning interacting with Faith and having fun with her. The future Faith moved away so that he wouldn't see her. Hope stopped near the stairs as he thought he saw something move, but when he looked, he didn't see anything. He let it go and proceeded into the living room. Once he was gone, Faith stepped back down so that she could watch what was happening. In her past, she couldn't remember this happening since she was so young.

As Lightning kept playing with Faith, she suddenly felt something touch her shoulders. Quickly she looked back surprised seeing who it was. "Hey! I didn't know you were going to be back here so early."

Hope's lips curved up into a smile. "Caught a break from work." His arms wrapped around her as he leaned his head against her shoulder. "And here you were worried about being a good mother." He looked down at baby Faith who still displayed a grin and moved around. "Then how come she seems happy?"

"Hmm…" Lightning's eyes traveled along the ground. Inside, it was nice to hear him say that. She picked Faith up off of the ground and handed her to Hope which he looked surprised. "Anyway now that you're here, why don't you try putting her to sleep?" Afterwards Lightning stood up and walked off.

Hope looked back at her as he held Faith up. He didn't even get a word in before he was handed responsibility. "Oh come on! I just got here!" Faith let out a loud laugh as she bounced a little. It was going to be harder since Faith was so hyper.

In the stairwell, the future Faith shook her head with her eyes closed as she grinned silently. Figuring that she spent enough time there, she changed the time on her device and disappeared. Her mission still remained the same.

* * *

_Thank you for reading! This is probably one of the shortest chapters this story has if not the shortest. I'll be back to update next time. The story will change up a little in the next chapter. As always, let me know what you think and I'll be back to update!  
_


	6. The Beginning: Let's Take A Chance

_**Author's Notes:** Thank you for reading and keeping up with the story and sending in reviews! I appreciate all the 'cute' comments that were sent!  
_

_Before reading, I wanted to explain about this chapter and the next few chapters just in case any confusion comes up. As I explained in the first chapter about the story, I also wanted to show how Hope's and Lightning's relationship grew. That's why this story came out longer than planned and the last chapter was short. So this chapter is the start of how the relationship began. Sort of like an intermission in the story. After the next few chapters, it'll lead right back to the time travel and saving the future stuff. _

_I hope that you will like this chapter! _

* * *

_Chapter 6: The Beginning: Let's Take A Chance:_

"If we take this eastern route over here, we should be able to avoid the most dangerous wildlife that's there. There will still be some on our path, but it won't be as bad." As Lightning sat beside Hope on the couch inside of his office, she pointed toward the map that they were both looking over and explained more about the route that he wanted to know about. In the year 502 AF, things had settled down from their previous adventure of saving time and the world. The new Cocoon was up in the sky, but most of the people remained down on Pulse to live. Lightning had returned to Pulse from Valhalla in 500AF. For several months, she had stayed with Serah and Snow who had decided to build a new home in New Bodhum. There she had gotten some time to recover from her experience as a great warrior, but things had began to get boring quick. Soon she had gotten an answer of what she could do when Hope offered her a position back into the military. After she accepted the offer, she was able to get her rank back as sergeant where she was before. Since then, she was able to travel around Pulse, defending different areas and going on missions. The times that she was in Academia, she spent it with Hope and helped him with different missions that involved his scientists. He valued her opinion and help ever since they were L'Cie and still did. It wasn't long before he instated her as his personal advisor as far as military matters.

Hope placed his finger over the map nearby where her hand was. "All right. So with your squad and the other squads, you'll lead us here." He slid his finger back across the map. "To be clear, are we starting here first?"

Lightning placed her hand on top of his and moved his hand to where she pointed before. "Here."

He let out a smile. "All right. Got it."

Afterwards, Lightning breathed out and stood up. She raised her arms into the air as she stretched her body. When she gazed out of his huge window, she saw night casted over the city of Academia. It was lit up with lights. She had gotten used to seeing the sights while working with Hope in his office. Sometimes when they would plan out missions, they would stay late nights in order to get the plan straight and as early as possible.

A hopeful smile appeared on his lips. "I think we'll be ready to go soon." When he lifted his eyes to Lightning, he saw her with her back turned. His eyes took a second to notice the shape of her body, the visible curves that he could see. In his mind he thought that he should look away, but he found his eyes staying. Over time, the more they had been working together especially alone, the more he was starting to feel closer to her.

Lightning glanced back, noticing that Hope was staring at her. "What?"

He replaced his contemplative look with a smile. "I was just thinking that since it's getting late and we'll be here for a little longer that maybe I should order something."

She walked over and sat down beside him. "All right, as long as you get my order right this time."

Silently he grinned. "And when have I ever got it wrong?"

A faint smile came on her lips. "I guess you haven't… so far."

Hope took his phone out of his pocket and proceeded to call the restaurant that could deliver their food. Afterwards he went back to focusing on their next assignment. He placed his finger on the map. "So? What would happen if we took this route?"

Her finger slid ahead of his and followed the path up on the map. "Then you're asking for trouble." She moved back to the beginning where his finger was. "But if we went further up this way…"

He placed his hand on top of hers and slid her hand upwards. "Let me guess. It's better this way."

"Yes," she replied. "Smoother path, less trouble."

He smiled not willing to debate her any further. "All right. Fine. You know best. I guess now I'll have something to show the officers tomorrow. Hopefully they will agree. Thanks Light."

Lightning nodded. "No problem. I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Do you know if you'll be on this mission with us?" he asked curiously.

"I'm not really sure yet. Maybe... I'll find out soon." Afterwards, things turned silent between them. She slipped her hand away from his that he was still holding onto. Nervously he placed his hand back at his side, thinking that he was holding onto her hand for too long. Over time, the two had grown closer even more than when they were L'Cie. Even close contact had become almost natural for them. It didn't bother her or him as much when their hands touched. Lightning stood up and went over to a cooler nearby to get some water. While Hope was sitting alone, he began to get lost in his own thoughts. Lightning walked back and sat down beside him. When she looked over at him, she noticed him distracted. "Something on your mind?"

"Hm?" He lifted his eyes up to her. "Oh! I was just thinking…"

More, she became curious. "Thinking about what?"

Hope wasn't sure if he should tell her. For a while now, he wondered about the feelings that were dwelling inside of him. Every time he wanted to say something, he felt that maybe he shouldn't because he didn't want to lose her or because he was unsure about his feelings himself. Lightning leaned forward. "Hope?"

He blinked. As much as he wanted to say something, the words didn't come out. Lightning sighed. She wondered what he was thinking, but thought it was best to let it go. "I won't push it, but if there's anything you want to say..."

Hope wondered if he should take a chance. He thought about the interaction between them. Ever since she moved to Academia, he felt that they were really comfortable with each other. Whenever he was standing or sitting next to her alone, he would stay close to her almost with no distance between them. Whenever he touched her hand, it would linger there as long as it could hoping that she wouldn't get suspicious or feel uneasy about him doing so. Whenever she would touch his hand or shoulder, he didn't take her hand away. He would let her stay there until she decided to move. Maybe now was the time to do something about it; to confront this head on despite the risks. "Well… Do you mind if I ask you something? I'm not sure what I should do."

Lightning gave a nod. She wanted to be there to help. "Sure."

"Um?" His nervousness began to set in. Now that he got through the first step, it was going to be hard to take the next one and the many more he felt was after that. "Well…"

She placed her hand on his shoulder. He could feel her hand tightening against it. "Just spit it out. It can't be that bad."

He stared toward the ground unsure of how to explain things. "Okay… I was thinking... There's this person that I know and…he's not sure whether or not he can say something that he's been…holding in."

Lightning grew confused by his words. "What do you mean? What is this person holding in?"

His eyes shifted between her and his hands on his knees. "Well… He's not sure about… how to tell this person about how he feels..."

Lightning thought about what he could mean by that. If it was the feelings that she thought he meant, then she wasn't sure how she could help. She had to ask to be sure. "Oh… Are these feelings…something personal?"

"Yeah…" he answered quietly.

Lightning turned silent for a moment to think about what advice she could give him. There was one other thing she had to wonder. "Well… Is this person you?"

Hope froze for a moment. He was hoping to get through the conversation without revealing that it was him that he was talking about nor did he want her to figure out his feelings toward her and drive her away. Since she asked, he thought that it was best for him to be honest. "Y-Yes. The person I was talking about…was myself."

She became a little more interested. "And this person that you want to say something to, have you known them for a long time?"

He looked up at her. A little of his fear went away. "Yeah."

"Is this person a…girl or…?"

His eyes drifted toward the ground. "Yes. She is."

Inside, Lightning was surprised to hear so. She hadn't been around him all of the time, but she hadn't notice him take an interest in anyone. She became even more curious. "Really?" Her eyes traveled along the ground as she tried to narrow down possible suspects. "Is it one of the scientists here?"

Hope didn't answer. His words became caught in his throat and he felt as if his throat was closing in on him. His eyes lowered to the ground. He wasn't ready to admit who it was just yet. Since he was silent, Lightning decided to back down and let him keep it personal. "Well whoever it is, if there's something on your mind, then you should just tell them."

"It's hard because if I make this decision and she rejects me, then I could risk losing our friendship," he sounded concerned as he continued to stare down.

Lightning looked curious. "Do you think that she might like you back?"

"I'm not sure… " Hope scratched the back of his head. "It's really hard to tell with her."

Lightning breathed out. More she was starting to understand about the predicament that he was in. "Well… It's up to you as to whether you want to take that chance or not."

"I don't know if I can." The possibility in his head grew more that she would reject him. He couldn't stand it if he had lost her over something like this.

"Like I said before, it's not a question of can or can't. There are just some things that you do. If you think you have a chance, then just go for it." Hope was surprised by her words. It actually inspired him a little more to try. He just hoped that it wouldn't ruin things. Lightning was still surprised. It was strange hearing his interest in a woman since they hadn't really talked about something like that before. She didn't even know that he was looking at a particular woman. All she could hope was that her advice helped. A part of her was curious as to whom it was and if she knew them. Deep inside she wondered how this would affect things with them as far as interaction. Would they start talking less and he would end up spending more time with his new girlfriend? Would it get to the point that they would barely talk or see each other at all? She wasn't completely sure how she felt about the situation. It made her a little uneasy, but she wasn't exactly sure why. Either way, whatever change there was to come, she would be happy for him.

After settling things, she stood up from where she was sitting. As Hope snapped out of his thoughts, he noticed and became surprised. "Where are you going?"

"I'll go downstairs to get the food." Lightning was about to walk away, but suddenly felt her arm being grabbed. On the inside, she was a little surprised that he stopped her. Her eyes read over his face. There was something serious about his expression. She followed the pull of his hand and sat back down. She wasn't sure what he was doing. "What?"

This had to be his chance while he still had the courage to do what was on his mind. He moved his body in closer to hers, still keeping some space in between them. He leaned forward toward her. Once she realized what he was doing, she quickly placed her hands to his chest holding him back. "What are you doing?"

Her reaction gave him a little worry about what he was doing, but figured it might also be a reaction because it was just unexpected. "I…" Hope placed his hands on top of hers and took them away from his chest. He placed them down near his knees still holding onto her hands. No words were spoken between either of them. He decided to try again. He leaned in closer to her as he still held onto her hands. Soon there were only a few inches between their faces. Her eyes lowered more as his did. She became torn. Her mind told her that she should stop him, but her body remained still. She didn't lift her hands to stop him like she did before. Instead they tensed underneath his anxious. Was this her body's way of telling her that she wanted this to happen? The same worry that he had came to her as well. She didn't want for something like this to ruin their friendship nor was she sure if she wanted to go down a relationship path with him.

Before she knew it, his lips had met with hers. At first stunned, she snapped out of that state and closed her eyes. Things began to heat up between them quickly. She kissed him faster with anxiousness and desire and he answered back with the same amount of desire. Her hand slip from his and ran upward through his silver hair that was hanging straight at the back of his head. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer to him. She lifted her other hand to wrap around his neck.

A few minutes later, the two split inches apart with their foreheads pressed together. Breath had escaped from their bodies as their minds were in a haze. He slipped his hand under the pink strands of her hair to the back of her neck. He pulled her toward him, letting their lips met again. More, they kissed each other with much feeling. It took some time, but when they felt out of breath, they separated. Breath escaped heavily from their bodies, loud enough for the other to hear. Slowly the expression on her face changed to stunned. Her lips parted more as her eyes widened a little. As she stared in his eyes, more it began to sink into her mind that, just like that, things had changed between them and just with one kiss. She wasn't sure if she was ready for that. She breathed out and quickly stood up from the couch.

Hope started to get concerned by her reaction. "Light?" Soon she turned with her fingers to her lips. Her legs walked faster than usual and left from his office. Once he seen so, his eyes widened. "Light!" Things became silent. She didn't come back at his call. He tilted his head down as he placed his hand to his forehead holding it. Mentally he began to beat himself up for making the first move like that. Now he was afraid that he was going to lose her.

After that night, three days had passed since the incident. He tried to call her, but there was no answer. One of those days when he went to the military rooms down in the Academy, he asked if she was there that day, but she wasn't. After a while, he figured it was best to give her some time so he stopped. As night came around, he was working in his office alone. His mind was slightly distracted over what happened, but he was still able to work.

Sometime later while he was still working, he heard a familiar sound. Instantly he realized that someone had opened his door. He was surprised because he didn't think that anyone was around this late. When he lifted his head, he was really met with surprise. No words came to him, but simply one that he could only speak in his mind. _"Light?"_ In the doorway, he saw her standing. She stepped forward toward his desk. He stood up and met her in front of his desk. He stared at her still unable to speak. He urged himself to say one thing whether it was an apology or an explanation. For a few seconds, her eyes only focused on his eyes until she moved in closer and pressed her lips against his. Her arms wrapped around his neck. He was surprised by the kiss nevertheless he kissed her back. Her body pressed against his as she stepped forward. His body became pressed on the side of his desk. He wrapped his arms around her. One slid upwards as the other slid to her lower back.

Minutes after, the two sat on the couch beside each other with a little distance between them. Lightning was leaning forward with her arms pressed against her legs. "I'm sorry." Hope was confused as to what she meant. Whether she meant about leaving three days ago or what she did just now. Either way, he remained quiet. "After you kissed me, I didn't know what to think or do so I left to clear my head. It took some time for me to think about things like whether or not I thought it was a good idea for us to become…" She looked over at him. Through her expression, she still seemed somewhat unsure. "…more than just friends. I was thinking the same thing too. I didn't want something like this to come between us."

"You mean us not being friends anymore?" She nodded. His eyes drifted down as he sighed. "I thought about the same thing too. I don't want to lose my friendship with you Light so…if you don't think that this is the best approach, then we can just stay as we are."

Surprisingly, a smirk came to her lips. He wasn't sure why. "It's kind of late for that don't you think? The damage is already done. You really think if we go back to just being friends, that in the back of our minds, we won't be thinking the same thing? That you kissed me and I kissed you?" Hope wasn't sure what he could say. Lightning looked off in the distance. "I didn't answer any of your messages. I wasn't sure what to do about this myself and I wasn't ready to see you yet. It got to the point that had to talk to Serah about it."

"So? What did you decide?" he asked a little nervous.

Her eyes traveled over to him as she looked serious. "Well I came in and kissed you myself didn't I?"

Hope was still kind of unsure what that meant, but assumed that it was a yes. "I guess if it doesn't work out then we could go back to being friends."

Again a smirk came on her face. "You really think it's going to be that easy to do so?"

Hope stared into her eyes sincerely. "It might not be, but all I know is… I don't want to lose you in any way."

Lightning was a little touched to hear him say so. "Okay."

A smile appeared on his lips. "I wasn't sure whether or not to tell you that I had feelings for you, but then you told me to take a chance and I did."

She gave a faint smirk. "If I knew the woman was me, I probably wouldn't have told you to do that." Hope gave a silent chuckle as he closed his eyes. "I guess…I should say…" Once he heard her speak, he lifted his eyes curious. A little nervous, Lightning turned her head to him. "I have these… certain feelings for you too…Different from anyone else I know."

The words brought a smile to his face. "That's good to hear."

Her expression turned serious. "Well don't expect me to say that often."

Hope's smile changed into a grin. "I can live with that as long as you can with me."

It was strange to hear him say things like that since she wasn't used to getting or giving that kind of affection, but over time she figured it might be something that she would get used to. Happy, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. In response, she kissed him back. When they parted, she opened her eyes to him. "You know that you still owe me dinner from the other night."

Hope looked surprised. It sounded as if she was blaming him for her leaving her food behind. "What? You were the one that left."

Lightning shook her head. "Doesn't matter. You still owe me one."

A smile came on his face. "I saved your food from the other night so you can have that."

A frown crossed over her lips. "No." If she was going to get anything, then it was going to be fresh.

* * *

_Thank you for reading! I hope the change was okay. As I said before, the next few chapters will ease right back into the time travel and this part was before any of the family and time travel stuff happened. As always, let me know what you think and I'll be back to update!_


	7. The Lines Of Intimacy

_**Author's Notes:** Thank you to everyone who kept up with the story, sent in reviews, and added this to your favorites and alerts. Thank you to one of my reviewers. Flashback would be a good word to describe what the last chapter was and the next few before anything in time changed. I don't know why that word slipped from my mind._

_Anyway I hope that you will enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

_Chapter 7: The Lines Of Intimacy:_

"So over here we have what will soon be the new wing of the Academy where the scientists will be able to conduct more experiments to help our world," a scientist who was guiding the tour explained. Behind the crowd, Hope followed along with other high ranking, executive scientists and other officials who were touring the new aspects that were being added to the Academy. A little uninterested at the moment, he looked around the area of the Academy where he was. He already knew the construction that was going to happen and seen the blueprints of the plans of what it was going to be. He even approved it himself personally, but it was advised that he join with the other scientists to take the tour himself. Once he looked around, he realized something. He was close to the military training rooms inside of the Academy. While no one was looking and the tour guide was still speaking, he pulled out his phone. Silently he sent out a message. In seconds, he got a response. As soon as he did, an idea popped into his mind. It was unprofessional, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to stick around for the rest of the tour or miss his chance. He started sending and receiving messages back and forth.

Before long, the group began walking again. The tour guide held his hand out toward the wall. "And here is where we will have our state of the art technology that will soon be constructed by the Academy. In fact, the Director knows of some of the projects that are currently in progress. Director-?" When the man looked to the back of the crowd, he was surprised. Hope was nowhere in sight.

* * *

Inside of one of the military training facilities, Lightning was placing some of the training equipment away. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone coming toward her. She stood up straight as she placed her hand on her hip. "Is there a reason that you made me volunteer to put this stuff up?"

A smile came on Hope's face as he headed toward her. Once he stopped in front of her, he gave her his answer. "Because I thought maybe after this you could take a break."

She sighed as she closed her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere doing something?"

"Yeah, but I kind of wanted to do something else more."

She arched her eyebrow as she looked at him. "And what would that be?" He placed his hand on her cheek and pressed his lips to hers. When she stepped back, she felt her legs hit the side of the tall stack of training mats for the soldiers to spar on that came up to her lower back. Once he separated from her, their foreheads were pressed together as their eyes were halfway open. Breath escaped from their bodies. "This really can't be your excuse every time just so you can see me. Both of us have work to do so we can do this later."

A smirk came on his lips. "And where would the fun in that be? Come on. You have to admit that it kind of is."

Lightning frowned. "Yeah until one of us gets caught and then comes trouble."

"Just give me a few more minutes and then I will go away."

She didn't believe that for a second. "You're acting really unprofessional right now. Not something that you want for your image."

Hope let out a sigh as his shoulders slouched. He knew that she was right, but he couldn't help that he wanted to spend more time with her. "Fine." He was about to leave, but all of a sudden felt something pull him back. When he looked down, he saw that Lightning's fingers were holding him by his tie. There was a smirk to her lips and a seductive look to her eyes. Her face moved stopped inches in front of his. "But I will admit that it does get fun sometimes." Her eyes traveled from his lips to his eyes. His smirk appeared as he became more interested. She was teasing him. Soon Lightning pushed him away playfully, giving herself space to walk away from him.

To walk away from him would not be that easy. He managed to grab onto her hand and pull her back toward him. Her lips ended up crashing into his. The strict side of her urged her to just make him go back to work, but for some reason she found herself giving in more. As the two kiss, he leaned forward as she leaned back until she felt her back against the floor mats. She moved her lips away from him and stood up. She grabbed onto his hand. "Not here. Anyone could just walk in and see us." She led him toward the back of the room to where there was another door that led to a very small, windowless room. There was only one way to get to the small room and it was through a door within the training room. The room was lit with red lighting with control panels and machines around. She pressed his back against the wall. "This is the last time you got that? Then you have to go." She wanted to show that she was serious.

A smile came on his face to show that he understood. "I got it."

In her mind, she believed that even though he said that, he would try again. If next time would occur, then she would just have to control the situation and stop them before they ended up that way again. She moved in and pressed her lips against his. In the back of her mind, she was trying her best to keep track of time before anyone would notice that she was missing. It was becoming harder to do as she was getting more into their kissing session. One of her hands stayed on the back of his neck as the other went exploring against his shoulder and chest. Things had been getting like this between them for a few weeks now. Usually they would spend time together like this in his office and outside of it where they didn't have to worry about anyone walking in or finding out about their relationship. They wanted to keep the image of staying professional in the work environment. After months of being together, what started out as sharing a quick kiss while no one was around, it grew into something more. Before they knew it, the idea had added some excitement to try it. The thrill of almost getting caught, knowing that they would make sure that they wouldn't. Instead of being as they were at work, they could act as if they were anxious teenagers.

As they continued, he placed his hand against the upper part of her back. His other hand slipped onto her lower back and soon began to travel lower toward her hips. Gently he grabbed her. Afterwards she parted from him inches away as she lifted her eyes to his. He wondered if he had gone too far. It was his first attempt at a move like that. He didn't want to move faster than she was ready to. "Was that…okay?"

In response she wrapped her arms around his neck. A small smirk came upon her lips. "It's fine." She leaned in and pressed her lips against his again. A smile curved at his lips. He reversed the direction that they were in to where her back was pressed against the wall. His maneuver surprised her a little, but at the same time she liked the sudden move that he pulled. The two continued on playfully. He moved in toward her neck, leaving soft kisses on her skin. She breathed out as she closed her eyes. Her fingers began to tense on the back of his neck. The sensation began to get stronger once she felt him pulling on her skin with his lips. She shifted her neck out of his reach and look at him. "Remember. No leaving marks."

Hope nodded. "Right. Sorry." He leaned in again to connect their lips. Slowly her mind became focused on only them. His hand had slid from her leg up toward her hips underneath her skirt. More he pressed his body against hers. On the side of his leg, he could feel her slightly rubbing against it.

Things began to intense. He grabbed onto her hand that was on his shoulder and removed it, pressing it against the wall near her head. A smirk appeared on both their lips for each other to see. Lightning leaned in, but he pulled back a little, teasing her. When Hope felt it was long enough, he leaned in to meet her lips and let the back of her head press against the wall. His body began to move on its own, pressing upwards toward her inner thighs. She breathed out as she had her eyes closed. She could almost feel him close to her personal area. Her arm that he had against the wall had wrapped around his shoulder. She leaned her head on the top of his shoulder with her eyes closed.

"Farron?!" Once she heard her name called from outside, her eyes opened. She realized that she had stayed with him too long. "Farron?! Where are you?!"

Quickly she pulled him away. "Stay here." She walked out of the room. There she saw her commanding officer searching for her. He looked over toward her with his hand on his hip. "There you are. What took you so long? It's taking you a while to put away the equipment."

She had to come up with an excuse, but her mind wasn't sure what the best one was. "Sorry sir. I-."

"It was my fault." The soldiers lifted their eyes to see Hope walk up. Lightning got a little upset that he came out when she told him to stay put. Now she was afraid that the officer would figure out everything. Hope stopped in front of them. "I should be the one apologizing. I'm the one who kept Sergeant Farron held up."

The officer looked confused. "Director?"

Hope smiled innocently. "Oh! I apologize. Let me explain. I was looking for one of the soldiers here in the facility and I just happened to find Sergeant Farron here working. I have to say that I'm impressed. I was going to ask some questions that I had and she has answered everything for me in great detail. You have a very good soldier here."

The officer was curious as to the questions that he had, but decided to let it go. He looked over at Lightning. "Well then! I'm glad that she could be of help. Good job Farron."

"Thank you sir." Lightning turned her glances over to Hope who just smiled. She didn't want to admit it, but somehow he had gotten them out of this one this time. Hope turned to head out of the room. As he did so, he exchanged quick glances with Lightning before he left the room.

* * *

"That was a close one the other day. We're not trying that again." As Lightning sat on the couch inside of Hope's office, she rolled out a map across the table that was in front of her. For the two, it would be another late night of working together again. The two minded even less about staying late since it was their chance to spend time together other than work.

Hope turned toward her in his chair behind his desk as he gave an innocent smile. "It wasn't that bad. I think that it worked out." Afterwards he stood up and headed over toward her.

Lightning's eyes scanned over the map in front of her. "Yes, but that involved you making up a story in front of one of the officers."

He sat down beside her. "Not necessarily. I was looking for you and I did ask you some questions."

Curiously she looked over at him. "Like what?"

Hope leaned in closer and began nuzzling against her neck with his nose. "Asking if you could give me a few minutes of your time for just the two of us? If you liked some of the things I did? Those are very important things that I need to know and of course, you've been very helpful in answering those for me."

She gave her eyebrow a slight arch. "So that you can use them on your next girlfriend?" she replied sarcastically.

Hope lifted his head. "Yeah if she's you."

"I don't know about that…" Lightning's eyes lowered down toward the table. "I let you get away with too much. Even since this thing started, you've been less focus."

Hope smiled. "I'm not that bad. It's just fun when I'm with you."

"Plus you're getting a little more into what we do." Lightning thought back to the other day when they were together. After what happened, she wasn't going to allow either one of them to be reckless like that again. She would stick to what she thought in the first place and not let them do anything like that at all.

Hope sighed as he looked down. "I'm sorry if I pushed it too much. I wasn't really thinking that much."

"Right… You were just thinking with something else. Don't worry about it. It was actually okay." She returned her attention back to the work she had to do. She wanted to finish soon.

Hope became interested in what she said. "So…? You didn't mind?"

Lightning gave her head a slight shake. "No." As she continued working, he thought about her words. He wondered as far as getting intimate, what was the limit in their relationship? He returned his eyes back to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that he was staring at her. "What?"

He gave a small smile. "How about we take a break? We've been working most of the night."

Lightning thought that it wasn't a bad idea. "Only for a few minutes all right?"

Hope nodded. She leaned back and settled against the couch. He followed and did the same. His eyes traveled over to her. "Do you want to go outside and walk? Maybe we can pick up something to eat along the way?"

She stretched out her arms and legs, getting out the stiffness she felt for sitting too long. "Maybe. It probably would be good to get out of this office."

"Hmm..." He was still thinking about the previous thought on his mind.

When Lightning looked over, she noticed him staring down lost in thought again. "What?" Hope wasn't sure about saying it out loud. Since he didn't say anything, she began to get more curious. "What's on your mind?"

"I was just thinking about the other day."

Lightning wondered why he was dwelling on the subject. "What about it?"

He wasn't sure how to say what he thought. "I just… I just don't want to cross… any boundaries with you."

She became curious. "What do you mean?"

Hope reached over and grabbed her hand. "Like how we were the other day in the room."

Lightning remained quiet for a little, thinking about the best thing to say. "The other day… you weren't the only who felt that they were losing control. I wasn't really thinking about anything but that feeling. At that point, I didn't know how far we would go, but…" Then she shook her head and took her hand away from his. She felt that she was speaking too openly and mushy and decided to get down to the point. She crossed her arms against her chest. "Just know this. If I say no, then don't."

Hope gave a smile to show that he understood. "Okay."

She was still curious as to what he was thinking. "Was there something else on your mind?"

Hope looked down. There was an idea on his mind, but he wasn't sure if he should carry through on it. He was interested, but was it too much? "There was one thing…that I wanted to try if that was okay?"

She became more curious. The tone in his voice sounded somewhat nervous. "What's that?"

Once debating more on the thought, Hope decided that it was best to leave it be. Nervously he smiled. "It's nothing." As he stood up, Lightning wondered what he was holding back on her. "We should get back to work. I know that you want to get done as much as I do."

"Hmm…" Lightning watched as he headed back to his desk and sat down. His eyes traveled over to his computer. For a short time, she sat thinking, but finally stood up and went over to him. Gently she placed her hand against his shoulder. "No matter what is on your mind, don't be afraid to say it. As partners, we should be open and honest with each other."

Hope thought about her words. He knew whatever was on his mind he could say to her. He leaned his head against her hand as he gave a faint smile. "Thanks Light." He grabbed onto her hand and placed a kiss on the back of it. He felt better being around her. Hope lifted his eyes to her and smiled. "I'll order something for us and I'll get done with this as soon as I can. If you're already done, you don't have to stay here."

Lightning walked away and sat back on the couch. "It's all right. I still have work that I could do here. I know that it will help." Her eyes began scanning over the map as her finger slid across it. Hope smiled as he watched her. It reminded him of how happy he was when she was around.

As the night continued to pass, it was getting late into the early morning. On the couch, both of them were lying down comfortably. Lightning was lying on the inside of it as Hope was lying on the outside. There he lied in just his shorts while she lied in his white button up shirt that she borrowed from him. His arm was wrapped around her as her head lied on his bare chest. Her legs were wrapped around his leg as her arm rested on his stomach. The two had already finished what work they needed done and eaten. For the remainder of the night, they decided to just stay there with each other instead of returning to their own apartments, plus it was also very late for them to walk back home on their own. His eyes lowered toward her. "You don't have to stay here if you don't want to. I could call for-."

"It's all right," Lightning replied. "I don't mind." She was already tired from working most of the night and just wanted to relax. She lifted herself up on her hands leaning over him. "Not unless you want to go home."

A smile curved at Hope's lips. "Actually I'm glad to be here since you're staying here with me." It would be the first in their relationship that they spent a night staying together to sleep. Usually they went their separate ways to go to their own homes and see each other if they could the next morning. This time, he was happy that he had gotten the chance to be closer to her.

"This saves us time. I guess neither one of us has a reason to be late for work since we're already here." Down below her, she noticed that Hope's smile wouldn't leave. She became curious as to why. "What?"

"I'm just glad that you decided to stay here with me," he spoke softly.

A faint smile appeared. She leaned her head against his chest along with her body against his. "It's not so bad being here with you."

Silently, Hope let out a grin. "Thanks." She kept her smile on. Then her eyes lifted up toward the huge window in his office. From there she could see the city shining brightly. It was different from what she was used to seeing in New Bodhum. Hope followed her eyes to see what she was gazing at. His eyes noticed the lights that he was used to seeing. "It's really beautiful isn't it?"

"Yeah," she whispered. The lights were almost hypnotic in a way.

His eyes traveled over to her who had her attention turned away from him. The way her bangs hung over her eyes, the sense of wonder and amazement in her eyes as she gazed out, how she seemed calm and at peace especially with everything she had been through, he observed them all. It was then he felt his grown feelings swelling strongly in his chest as he watched her. He took the chance to act on them. "But not as beautiful as you are before me now." He let the words slip off of his tongue as if it came natural to say.

Instantly Lightning turned her head to him stunned. She didn't expect him to say something like that. Her eyes stared into his, seeing the sincerity inside. "Hope…" Her eyes drifted away from his uneasy. "You don't have to say."

A smile curved at his lips. "Even if it's true? You said that we should be open and honest with each other. I wanted to say that because…it's just the way I feel. I've always thought of you in that way."

Her eyes return back to his. She was touched by what he said. Neither one could tear their eyes away from the other's. Slowly she leaned in toward him as her fingers curved a little at his chest. Softly her lips pressed against his and moved along slowly with his. She could feel his heart beating swiftly through her hand. Her thoughts began to dwell on her own heart. When she wondered about her feelings for him, she wondered if they grew over the time that they were together. She knew that he was one of the closest people she let in on her life even though she didn't tell him everything, and she enjoyed her time with him. Her lips parted from his as she closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. More her mind began to get lost in thought.

Curiously Hope looked over, wondering what made her stop. "Light? Are you okay?"

More the debate began to settle inside of her. She knew that things have been different since he first admitted his feelings. Now she knew for sure that her feelings have grown more than before. Since he brought a sense of happiness, maybe her heart could accept that. "It's nothing."

Soon he turned in toward her as she lied down on her side. His emerald eyes met with her blue ones. "Tired?"

"I'm all right. I could stay up a little longer." Lightning rested her hands against his chest. The warmness of his body and the soothing scent that came of it left a calming, relaxing affect against her. Her eyes lifted up to his. "As long as you don't mind… staying up with me."

A smile appeared on his lips. He placed his hand against her shoulder. "Of course." He wanted to take in as much of this night as he could. At that moment the only people in his world was him and her and he could cast the rest of the world aside without worry or thinking about what tomorrow had to bring. They leaned in closer and kissed. Time began to slip away from them, but it didn't matter as long as they were together.

What was left of the night had turned into morning. The sun had shined brightly through the window. In his sleep, Hope began to stir. Slowly he opened his eyes. At his first sight, his lips couldn't help but curve into a gentle, tired smile. Beside him, he saw the glow of her skin and the way her hair covered over her eyes. Seeing her there wasn't a dream. It was truly a sight that he wanted to remember. Lightning was sleeping peacefully and looked beautiful as she done so. He was happy with how things turned out and that they had the chance to spend the night together. He hoped that there were many more to come. Since they had time before they had to leave each other, he decided to sleep a little longer. He moved in closer wrapping his arm around her hoping that he wouldn't wake her. Barely awake she responded and cuddled in closer to him. His warmth was inviting. She pulled the blanket in closer and wrapped her arm around him as well. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep happy that she was right beside him.

* * *

_Thank you for reading! As always, let me know what you think and I'll be back to update!_

_**On a side note:** For anyone who's interested, with this chapter, the ending that you just read was a second ending I went with. I decided to change the original ending and go with this ending instead for a few reasons, mainly because I thought it flowed better relationship wise. If anyone is interested in reading the alternative version of how this chapter ended, then stop by my tumblr blog already posted. It will be for mature audiences only. _


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